# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS J 



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f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 



Familiar W 



MILIAR Words 



-ON THE — 



EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH. 



—BY- 



REV, R. W. LOWRIE, 



KECTOR OF ST, PAUL S CHURCH, WINONA. MINNESOTA, 



ITrom Si. I'avil to -A.uir\istinee 



/mi 6' 



LA CR08SE, WIS. : 

KErUBLlCAN'LEADER STEAM I'lxlM, 
3 8 T 4 . 



PREFACE. 

A good sign of the times is an increased carefulness 
in the preparation of Candidates for confirmation. For 
these the author has made this unpretending compila- 
tion. Confirmation lectures need some such supple- 
ment. Rectors cannot always be reached and consulted. 
Here is a Friend which will never tire of answering ques- 
tions. I dedicate it to all Candidates for confirmation ; 
especially to those, whom I have mvself presented for 
the IIolv Rite. ^ R. W. L. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRITAIN BEFORE THE DAYS OF ST. PAUL. 

Britain had a national religion before the days of 
Christianity, the Druidic. 

Like the river of Egypt, the source of Druidism is* lost 
in the remote distance. For one, I am content to trace 
in it the remnants and but partly obliterated marks of 
the venerable Patriarchal, or of the later Mosaic^religion. 

As the Patriarchal religion held the oak sacred, so 
did the Druidic. As the former summoned its devotees 
to the Altar in open air, so did tlie latter; the Druids 



meeting iii a roofless temple, that they might have the 
domxe of Heaven as the only canopy above them in the 
hour of devotion. As the former, in its reformed Mo- 
saic state, allowed no victim that had the least blemish 
to be offered in its temples, so the latter, as if sharing 
the same view of the necessity of perfection in all things 
dedicated to religion, allowed no stone but the perfect 
monolith to be used in its places of worship — the long 
monolithic avenues of the Druids, sometimes miles in 
length, and of which Stonehenge is, most likely, a rem- 
nant, testifying to this curious fact. As the Patriarchal 
and Mosaic relio;ions found in the stone, the most fittino; 
emblem, as well as the most enduring memorial, be- 
tween Jehovah and man, and, if unhewn, for the xlltar of 
sacrifice, so Druidism seems to have done, — an unhewn 
stone being the invariable center of the circular temple 
of the Druids. As the robes of the Mosaic Priest were 
of pure linen, so were those of the Druidic. As the 
Levite was absolved from the duties of war, that he 
might give himself up to the exercise of his sacred 
functions, so was the Druid prohibited from bearing.and 
even wearing, arms. As in the Mosaic times, there 
were the mornino; and the evenino: sacrifice, and hours 
for each, the one after light, the other before dark, so in 
Druidism; no public devotions were offered before the 
rising of the sun, and none after its setting. As there 
were three chief feasts in the Mosaic, so were there 
in the Druidic, form of religion, even the time of 
the year for each somewhat corresponding. As there 
were Priest and High Priest in the Mosaic dispensation, 
so were there Druid and Arch-druid in this remnant of 
it in Britain. As hyssop was typical as a Mosaic thing, 



BO was it as a Druidic. As a prescribed lineage was 
necessary for the exercise of the Mosaic Priesthood, so 
was it for that of the Druidic, — great care in keeping 
genealogies and especially those of such as aspired to 
the Druidic order being quite as much a feature of early 
Britain, as it ever w^as of ancient Jewish custom. The 
Dee was the Druidic Jordan; in its waters only could 
Druidic sacrifices be washed. 

Says a writer: '4f the religion of Britain had been 
invented w^ithout any communication with the Eastern 
world, why did its inventors happen not only to have 
the same notions of the Deity, but likewise to adore 
him under the same similitude?" And says the author 
of a Comparative History of Religions: "Heathenism 
seems to be the degeneracy in various ways and degrees, 
of one primitive religion^ and is related to the ancient 
dispensations recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, as 
Mediaeval Christianity is to the Gospel." 



CHAPTER II. 

vST. PAUL IN THE CITY OF KOME. 

"I appeal unto Cesar." This appeal from a low^er, 
to the highest authority in the Empire, was the turning 
point of St. PauFs public, as, ''who art thou, Lord," 
was that of his private, life. The one utterance was 
made before the tribunal of Felix, the other, on the 
road to Damascus; the one, when a prisoner for the 
cross, the other, when its persecutor, but both are 
"golden milestones" in the highway of his life. From 



them radiate the various roads he trod in the accom* 
plishment of his great missionary purposes and plans. 
Not more certainly did the one event change his heart 
and his name, than the other the whole course of his 
public ministry. 

His journey to the city of Rome is one of great in- 
terest and was pregnant w^ith great results* It was by 
sea from Cesarea to Puteoli, and by a beautiful land- 
route from that place to Rome. Doubtless St. Paul 
knew^ not the crowding events that hung about that 
Appian way, as, with weary footsteps, and under guard, 
he Avended his way to the capital of the w^orld; but 
Providence was preparing a great future for him as the 
the great missionary Bishop of the West. Not more 
various w^ere the costumes of those he met — not more 
numerous the people themselves, the pr^tors, the con- 
suls, and proconsuls, the legions of troops, the crowds 
of merchants, the embassies of State, the rambling 
travellers, the multitudes of idlers, the slaves, the la- 
borers, the senators, the knights, the gladiators that 
passed and repassed him on that thronged highway of 
Roman commerce and travel, than the events, which, 
in his future Episcopate,hung upon this most remarka- 
ble journey. 

The company consisted of the soldiery under charge 
of one Julius; St. Paul, the chief prisoner; and St. Luke 
and Aristarchus, prisoners also. Leaving Vesuvius on 
the right; from Puteoli to Capua, by a cross-road; and 
then,along the queenly Appian way, they took their 
course. 

Passing village after village, the ruins of which re- 
main to this day, as if milestones of his journey, they 



crossed the Vulturnus and the Savo, and touched a mo- 
ment at Sinuessa on the sea shore. Then over the vine- 
clad hills of Falernus, under the brow of the Massic 
Hills, crossing the willow-fringed Liris, they reached 
Formicae, with its villas and beautiful bay, the cher- 
ished retreat of Cicero and the scene of his death. 
Then through the defiles of the Cecuban Hills, and over 
the lovely plain that lay just beyond, with Fundi rest- 
ing upon it, like a stone in a rich setting, the company 
reached the line that divides the ''Papal States" from 
the southeastern parts of the Italian boot, and then, 
turning at almost a right angle, had before them the di- 
rect and broad way to Rome, straight almost as an ar- 
row, and paved as smoothly as a modern street. 

At Apii Forum, the place where this road was struck 
by a canal, and which was a kind of rendezvous, they 
were met by a number of St. Paul's friends, among 
whom he had labored in other cities. If Priscilla and 
Aquila w^ere in Rome at the time, no doubt they were 
among those who came out to w^elcome him, for this 
their love and zeal would have prompted them to do. 

About ten miles on, at Three Taverns, others met 
him, w^hom seeing, he thanked God, and took heart. On 
to the Alban Hills from whose brows a glimpse of Rome 
could be had; down their sides and over the plain be- 
yond Avith the sepulchers of the emperors on either side; 
and through the very gates through which generals and 
emperors had returned in triumph with captives to their 
chariots, passed this ambassador in bonds and his fellow- 
bondsmen, captives indeed, but captives to a grander 
triumphal chariot than had ever rolled within those gates 
before, even the chariot of the everlasting Truth. 



And now St. Paul was in Rome. Through the city, 
over classic ground, under the shadow of stately build- 
ings, he comes, in due time, to the palace, the residence 
of the Cesar to w4iom he had appealed. Close to the 
imperial headquarters were the household troops. Over 
these, Avas one Burrus, the prefect to whose charge St. 
Paul was now entrusted. According to law, the pris- 
oner's right hand was, by day, chained to the left of a 
soldier; by night, a second soldier was chained to the 
other hand. He speaks of this more than once; ''re- 
member my chains." But strange events had happened 
on the late voyage. He had done even miracles. His 
prophecy aboard the ship had come true. These all in- 
spired respect if not veneration. And so all the indul- 
gences permitted by law w^ere shoAvn him ; he was even 
allowed to dwell apart from the other prisoners, his sep- 
arate lodgings being probably at the house of Priscilla 
and Aquila, his great and true friends, the husband and 
W'ife who had, in another citv, Corinth, been at once 
his pupils and his entertainers. 

And now three days have passed. He will send for 
the more prominent and influential of his countrymen. 
He does so, and explains the reasons for W'hich he had 
demanded a hearing before the Emperor, They say 
that no word of evil has ever been spoken against him 
by any of the brethren from the East, but that there w^as 
much hard rumor against the new religion. 

Indeed, this new^ religion w^as the absorbing topic of 
the Empire. St. Paul accordingly fixes a time for any 
who wdsh to hear him on the subject to come to his house 
and do so. The congregation that assembled to hear his 
preaching was drawn from three sources. First, there 



8 

were the converted Jews ; of these but few names have 
come down to us, Priscilla, Aquila, Epenetus, M^rj^ 
Persis, Tryphsena, Tryphosa, and the mother of Rufus, 
being about all of w^hom we have any mention. Then, 
the hostile Jews. Across the Tiber was a large colony 
living by merchandize and tolerated by the then 
lenient Nero. And, then, another class, the Gentiles; 
and among them, certain, to w^hom we must devote a 
special chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 

BT. Paul's acquaintance with prominent briton?^ 

AYHILE IN ROME. 

Sacred and profane history unite in introducing St. 
Paul to the reigning Briton family in the days of Nero. 
They had been brought to Rome as prisoners of state, 
by Claudius; and now St. Paul is a prisoner in the 
same city. 

Caractacus. the British King, w^as not ^ ^butchered to 
make a Roman holiday," for, humanly speaking, three 
manifest reasons: First. Claudius w^as afraid of arous- 
ing still more lierceW the hostility of the Britons w^hom 
he had found, as had his predecessors, by far the most 
valiant foes his arms had ever encountered. Then^ 
there was a family connexion between him and his own 
favorite general, Aulus Plautius having married Gladys, 
sister of the sturdy Briton. Besides these, the daugh- 
ter of the King, also named Gladys, was engaged to be 
married to a distino:uished Senator, Pudens, and indeed 



9 

seems to have so won upon the Emperor, CUaudius, as 
to have been adopted by him by a name formed from 
his own — Claudia. Instead, therefore, of death, im- 
prisonment for seven years (although, as in the case of 
St. Paul, without close confinement,) was imposed upon 
the conquered King and his family. 

Into the three classes named we may divide the audi- 
ences of the eloquent preacher in bonds. At the fixed 
time a goodly congregation assembled at the apostle's 
lodgings. From morning to evening he reasoned with 
them. Some were convinced, some not. Those not, 
dropped off from the congregation, but the faithful re- 
mained. Would those sermons still lived in sacred lit- 
erature ! 

St. Paul having now received means from one* of his 
former congregations, that of Philippi, as soon as it 
learned of its imprisonment, hired a house of his OAvn. 
Here he now received all who chose to come to him, and 
I'ight boldly did he teach the things of the kingdom, and 
made converts even among the wicked court of one of 
the most w*icked of Emperors. He, himself, speaks of 
^'the saints of Cesar's household.'' It is conjectured 
that these, or among these, were this family of British 
prisoners. Being of equal degree with the Emperor, 
connected, as we have seen, vrith the highest Roman 
families by ties of marriage, it is natural to suppose 
that they were treated as became their position, and were 
probably a temporary part of the imperial ''household." 

These Britons, too, Avere of sufficient importance in 
the eyes of St. Paul, to deserve special notice, for (in 
his 2nd Epis. to Tim.) he says: ''Eubulus greeteth thee 
'And Ptfdeiis i\Ti(\ Linus and Claudia." 



10 

So intimate was St. Paul Avitli tliese converts, from 
his official relations with them, that he calls the mother 
of this Riifiis Pudens,by the epithet of ''mother," as he 
did Timothy by that of ''son;" "Salute Rufus, chosen 
of the Lord and his mother and mine," ^. ^., mother in the 
Lord. 

When now Caractacus returns to Britain at the end 
of his seven years imprisonment, what more natural 
than for St. Paul either to return with him, or to seek 
Britain shortly after, or to have visited it in the mean- 
while ? It will be borne in mind that St. Paul's impris- 
onment had terminated one year before that of the King. 

Indeed, St. Paul after his liberation, seems to have had 
a friend and correspondent already in Britain,from whom 
he received accounts of this Roman colony,and by whom 
he was encouraged to pay his attention to it, a Christian 
woman before mentioned, Gladys, called Pomponia 
Gragcina, sister of Caractacus and wife of the Emperor's 
chief officer there, A. Plautius. This w^oman was tried 
before her own husband (as the law required) for hold- 
m^ a "foreim reli^rion." This was the Christian, which, 
of being neither Druidic^nor Pagan,*came under the head 
"foreign." As this took place when Nero and Piso were 
consuls, and as they were created consuls after St. Paul 
was sent to Rome, she may have been also one of his 
proselytes. At any rate, in Britain we find her, and in 
Britain, whether at her solicitations, or at those of her 
royal father, or at those of nothing save his own big 
missionary lieart, we soon after find St. Paul. 

Says Collier : "It is no absurdity to suppose her 
one of his converts, and if this was so, the apostle 
might be informed by this lady of the condition of 



11 

Britain, and be farther encouraged to undertake a voy- 
age upon her relation. To make this more probable, 
it is certain that St. Paul converted several persons of 
quality at Rome; neither is it improbable that some of 
the British prisoners, transported with Caractacus and 
his family in the reign of Claudius, might be proselyted 
at Rome by St. Paul, and if so we may reasonably sup- 
pose that they would recommend the conversion of their 
country to the same apostle." 

What a cluster of historic facts encircles the brow^ of 
early Britain as with a diadem I Her King carried to 
Rome in chains and becoming the friend of St. Paul. 
His sister perhaps the earliest convert to the cross in 
all Britain. His daughter the hostess of the persecuted 
apostles. His son the first Bishop of Rome."^ And 
more than that, Constantino, the first Christian Empe- 
ror, a Briton born.t 



^' Bishop Clement calls Linus, *'most holy Linns, brother of 
Claudia." Elsewhere we hear of a ^'son of Claudia;" but as there 
were several Claudias in the family, the writer who says son must 
have had one Claudia in mind, and he who says brother, the other. 
Irenaeus corroborates the statement that it was this Linus who was 
made Bishop, says he : ^The apostles Peter and Paul com- 
mitted the supervision to Linus, w^ho is mentioned by St, Paul in 
his Epistle to Timothy."— B k. iii. ch. 1. 

JHis mother, Helena, was a British lady of quality. Pope 
Urban speaks of ^'Constantine, the Briton." Usher calls him a 
*'Briton." Baronius says we ''must admit the fact," 



12 



CHAPTER IV. 

EVIDBXCE OF ST. PAUL's HAVING PLANTED THE CHURCH 
IN BRITAIN. 

Says one who carefully examined this: '*'We possess as 
satisfactory evidence as any historical fact can demand 
of St. Paul's journey to Britain."'^' 

Says another: ''I scarcely know of an author who 
does not maintain that St. Paul, after his liberation, 
preached in every country of Western Europe including 
Britain."! 

Says Mosheim: ''As to the question, whether or 
not any of the apostles, or any one commissioned by 
them, ever took a journey into Britain with a view to 
the conversion of the nation, I believe it must be passed 
over as not to be [positively] determined; although I 
confess that probability seems to lean rather in favor of 
those who take the affirmative side." 

And says Collier: ''The consequence will be [seems 
to be] that Christianity was preached in Britain at the 
first settlement of the Romans, and not only so, but that 
St. Paul himself was the instrument of conveying this 
blessing." 

^Bishop Burgess. 
:|:CapelIris. 



13 

But, ''to the law and the testimony.*' Says one'^: 
^'The Britons were converted by the apostles/' Says 
another: ^'Some of the apostles sailed over to those 
islands called British.'' J So that as early as the first 
centuries, the apostolic origin of the British church was 
a matter of public history. 

But we can also learn from equally reliable sources, 
by which of the apostles the church was planted in Brit- 
ain. Says an old writerf: ''St. Paul having been in 
Spain, sailed from one ocean to another, as far as the 
extremity of the earth;" ^. ^., of the then known earth, 
Britain. • And again: ''Paul, after his imprisonment, 
preached in the Western parts," Britain. Says an- 
other§: ''Paul, liberated from his first captivity at 
Rome, preached to the Britons." Says he: "Our 
fishermen, publicans, and he that Avas a tent-maker^ car- 
ried the gospel to all nations; them of India, the Brit- 
ons," &c. This same trade we find spoken of as that 
of St. Paul, in Acts XVIII. 3: "and, because he was 
of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought, for 
by their occupation they were tent-makers,''' 

But none of the above writers were cotemporary with 
St. Paul. Let us summon a witness to the stand who 
w^as; Clement, Bishop of Rome, in the year TO or 
thereabouts, and W'ho was, therefore, in a situation to 
know personally of the public career of St. Paul. Says 
he: "St. Paul preached righteousness throughout the 
whole world and traveled to the utmost bounds of the 
West," Britain. As to the fact that "extreme parts of 



■^Theodoret. tjerome 

JEusebius. §Theodoret, 



14 

the West/' 'Hitmost bounds of the West," (fcc, signify 
Britain, we know that this is so, from the classical and 
cotemporary use of the expressions. Plutarch speak- 
ing of the invasion of Britain says: ''Cesar Avas the 
first who carried a fleet into the Western Ocean," i, e,^ 
the ocean between Gaul and Britain, Theodoret 
mentions the people of Spain, Britain and Gaul, as 
those who dwelt in 'Hhe extreme parts of the West." 
When Eusebius speaks of the British Ocean, he calls it 
'Hhe Western." Tacitus uses the expression ''utmost 
bounds of the earth" to denote the Britons; the subject 
of his biography being the commander of the Romans 
forces in Britain. The Greek geographers alway 
speak of the Celtae as the "Western people," and of 
these, the Britons were the farthest west, z.e.,at the ex- 
tremity of the then known w^orld. We find Horace 
falling into the same mode of expression; "the Britons, 
the remotest people of the world." Arnobius, in speak- 
ing of the peoples whom the gospel had reached, calls 
the people of India those of the East, and the Britons 
those of the West. 

And likewise we can confine Clement's lanOTaoj-e to 
no narrower bounds than those of ancient use. "In- 
structed the whole world," says he, of St. Paul. That 
is, the Roman Empire,for so it was called; and Britain 
was a part, by conquest, of that Empire. 

And not only was Clement cotemporary with St. 
Paul, but he is mentioned in Scripture as worthy of all 
belief. The early and best writers all sa}^ that he is 
that same Clement spoken of in Phil. IV. 3, as among 
''those whose names are in the Book of Life." This 
Clement Avas born at Athens, instructed, and some say 



1,:; 



consecrated, by St. Peter, and the author of an epistle to 
the Corinthians wliich was for a great while considered 
as of equal authority with the epistles of St. Paul, but 
was finally omitted from the sacred Canon. 

In the next chapter some corroborative evidence of 
all this. 



CHAPTER Y. 

OORKOBORATIVE SUGGESTIONS CONCERXIXG ST. PAUL's 
VISIT TO BRITAIN. 

By distinct understanding, perhaps at the council at 
Jerusalem, the Jews were committed to the care of St. 
Peter; and the Gentiles, to that of St. Paul. How nat- 
ural, therefore, that the footsteps of the latter should 
be turned in the direction of Britain, where Gentiles 
abounded. 

St. Luke, St. Paul's biographer, tells us that he was 
in Rome two years; and we know he Avas not martyred 
until late in the reign of Nero. Here are nearly ten 
years of his life to be accounted for. These were all 
spent, we know, in hard missionary duty; and most of 
them in distant places. During all this while, where is 
it more natural that we should look for him, in the East, 
or in the West 'r In tlie West, for the reason given 
above, and because we cannot suppose that lie would 
neglect so important a field as that part of the world 
presented, and because the ''marching orders" of the 
Church's officers were ''go preach the Gospel to all the 
v>orld." Indeed, from St. Paul's own language, one 



16 • 

%vould suspect it. Before he is sent up to Cesar, he 
seems to use the language of one who never expected to 
be again in the East. Says he to the Miletans: ^'Ye 
all shall see my face no more." "YaalV', all ye 
Easterns, no less than ye Ephesians in particular 
^^among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of 
God." As if he had one of two things in his mind, his 
speedy death at the hands of Cesar, or his remote jour- 
ney into the far off West. 

Again: Cesar invaded Britain fifty-five years before 
Christ. It was noAv more than that number of years 
after. In this period of more than one hundred years, 
numerous Romans had settled in Britain. There was 
constant intercourse between Britain and Rome. Says 
Gibbon: '^ The public highways which had been opened 
for the use of the legions, afforded an easy passage for 
the Christian missionaries from Damascus to Corinth, 
and from Italy to the extremity of Spain or Britain ; 
from Babylon to London was a country offering to the 
traveller the impediment of neither frontier nor passport. ' ' 
Thus the comparative facility with w^hich the journey 
could be made, besides the existence in Britain of so 
many of his own countrymen, may have largely influ- 
enced St. Paul to visit that Island. 

Nor are we surprised that, in the eyes of St. Paul, 
Britain should have been, of, at any rate, equal impor- 
tance with Rome, for another reason. If the Druidic 
form of religion was, indeed, a remnant of the ancient 
Patriarchal, then Druidic England pi-esented far greater 
attractions to Christianity than Pagan Rome. And if this 
be so, how natural for St. Paul to have sought out Britain; 
how passing strange, indeed, if he had not done so ! 



A;j:aiii: remember the colle2:es that existed on Briton 
soil. Forty Druidic pkces of learning, in the -iO tribal 
jurisdictions which became, in after years, the counties 
of England; and thousands pursuing the quaint and 
rude Druidic studies within their walls — how natural 
for all this to have helped attract the Paul brought up 
with ''much learning" at the feet of the scholarly Ga- 
maliel. 

Once more: Cesar speaks of the Britons as being an ^'in- 
finite multitude." In the second century, says a writer, 
there were fifty-six cities in Britain. Among them was 
London, crowded with people, and claimed, by some, 
to be as old as Rome itself. Strange, if St. Paul, who 
was ever in the habit of seeking out the thickest haunts 
of men, of preferring the crowded city to the sparse 
country, of making every metropolis his pulpit, that he 
might have a nation for his audience", should have neg- 
lected the commanding rostrum which the cities of 
ancient Britain afforded. 

' Yet once again: There was some degree of civiliza- 
tion in Britain. That the Romans called all foreigners 
^'barbarians" must not be forgotten. They applied it 
even to the polished Grreek. But Claudia, the first 
British lady, wrote verses. Her house while in Rome 
seems to have been a kind of a Hotel de Rambouillet; 
Martial, the Corneille, and St. Paul, the Bossuet. The 
relative of Claudia, Gladys, received the name by which 
she is chiefly known — Grsecina — from the fact, that 
though a Briton by birth and early residence, she was 
a Greek in scholarship ; the Lady Jane Grey, or Queen 
Elizabeth of those rude Endish davs. The father of 
this Claudia was given to literarj^ pursuits. Roman 



18 

' authors were introduced to the notice of the Britons by 
these patrons of letters called by the Roman gentlemen 
of the first century by the insulting name of '^'^barbari- 
ans." Strange^ even if the most, or all, of this culture 
were confined to Roman residents there, if the scholarly 
Paul had forgotten Britain. 

These may have been some of the reasons which in- 
clined St. Paul to visit •'the Western Islands." At 
any rate^ he could not have been ignorant of the relig- 
ious Avants of those remote lands^ and his large heart 
must, indeed, have yearned towards them, and his mis- 
sionary zeal have burned to preach to them the things 
of the Master's Kinoxlom. I can vfell imao-ine the ea- 
geriiess with w^hich, upon his liberation, he set out upon 
his missionary travels along the Mediterranean^ and the 
reluctance with which, fired with a holier zeal than that 
which had kindled him on that celebrated way to Da- 
mascus, he would not desist, till he had spread the news 
of the Gospel, and set up the Church, in the very farthest 
lands known to Roman arms. 



CHAPTER Vi. 

THE INFLUENCE OF TUB ROMAN CHUECH UPON THE 
BRITISK, VERY SLIGHT. 

One reason of this v^as that the Britons suspected the 
Rom. pais no matter what they were offered by them. The 
Romans were the enemies of their country. Battle 
after battle had embittered them against each other. 
And not only had the Roman State made war upon their 



19 

country, it had also upon their old religion. Druidism 
had been solemnly laid under the royal displeasure. By 
edict, Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius had all in turn 
made the adhering to it a capital offense. One of the 
objects of the last invasion of Britain was the annihila- 
tion of Druidism. No doubt it was as much in defense 
of their religion, as in that of their native land, that the 
Britons resisted as they did the invasions of the Cesars. 
It was a part of British patriotism to be Druidic; to be 
otherwise, was to be a traitor. 

Not that Roman Christianity sanctioned the violent 
deeds of the Roman Emperors, but coming from the 
same quarter as the Roman arms, it was equally obnox- 
ious. All that w^as Roman — language, literature, cus- 
toms^ arms, laws, religion — was suspected by the 
Briton. Like the Trojans who ''feared the Greeks even 
when bearing gifts," the Britons disdained the Romans 
even when offering them the cross. 

Now, the reverse of all this vras true of Christianitj^ 
as presented from the East; there was here no hostility 
of feeling to be overcome. But of this in another chapter. 

Accordingly v\^e find no traces of influence from Ro- 
man Christianity in Britain at all in the early centuries. 
If the British Church had been of Italian parentage, 
there is nothing more certain than that the Roman 
Church would, as it is called, have ''claimed jurisdic- 
tion," e. ^., the exclusive right to govern the Church with- 
in that country, and to ordain clergy and make laws for it. 
When, in tlie 6th century, Roman influence did reach 
Engknd, Augustine and his Bishops did not hesitate to 
assert i\\Q right of jurisdiction, however unlawfully. If 
it had prevailed in the first and second centuries as it 



20 

did in the sixth, there can be no doubt that the right to 
control the Church, make laws for it &c . , would have 
been claimed. The silence of Rome itself upon the 
subject is more than suspicious. She is not wont to be 
so maidenly and coy. 

Again, we find in Britain, at a later period, certain 
Church usages and customs which could not possibly 
have been of Roman origin. Eut of this, more further on. 

If, now, any one enquire how Christianity came to 
and spread in the British Isles as it did at this early grow 
period, sufiicient reason appears m the fact, that Druid- 
ism and it were, at the same moment, sharing at the 
hands of the Roman State, a common hostility; and 
that both were, therefore, the more ready to coalesce 
under the weight of a common distress; in the fact, be- 
fore hinted at, of its transmission to the British Church 
from the East, and through a neighboring Church with 
which it was in friendly correspondence; and above all, 
in the Divine origin of the holy mission of the Church 
upon earth; an origin which enabled it to spread with- 
out smiles from the great, or favors from even the im- 
perial city, and which sped it on its way in other quar- 
ters, despite far greater hindrances than those it had to 
encounter in those Western islands. 

Indeed, the Church spread in Britain not only without 
aid from Roman influence, but even more rapidly than 
in Rome itself, for Britain was the first of all Europe to 
embrace Christianity as her national religion; and this 
while Rome, the mistress of the world, Avas not only 
not converted^ but was waging persecution after perse- 
cution against it. 

So little had Rome to do, in her early days, with the 



21 

British Cliurcli, that, at the coming of Augustine, in 
the year 596, the Bishop of Rome himself did not seem 
to know that the Christian Church existed in Britain. 
Thus was the British Church independent from the 
very beginning. 



CHAPTER VII. 

STATE OF THE BRITISH CHURCH DURING THE SECOND 
CENTURY. 

One Lucius has the honor of bearing the title of the 
first Christian Kino; of Eno;land. At what time he was 
converted, or by whom, is not known. But says Col- 
lier: "that there was such a Christian King in Britain 
about that time" (A. D. 166), '4s beyond question." 
And ancient coins have been tbund bearing his name 
together with the sacred emblem, the cross. Says 
Collier again: ''if it be farther enquired in what part 
of Britain this King Lucius lived, the learned Doctor 
Stillingfleet conjectures it to have been in that division 
afterwards called Surrey or Sussex." Indeed, so sup- 
ported by the voice of history is the fact that there was 
a Cliristian King of this name and date, that, says this 
same w^riter, the English ambassadors at the council of 
Constance pleaded the conversion of Lucius against 
the ambassador of Castile as an argument for that very 
important thing, known to English etiquette, as prece- 
dency. 

Mosheim attributes the conversion of this Lucius to 
refugees from Lj^ons, just across the channel. And 



22 

though he was doubtless merely head or chief of one or 
more of the numerous clans into which the people are 
divided, he seems to have exerted a good influence up- 
on the inhabitants. Amono; other thino-s he sent abroadfor 
Christian teachers to come and instruct his subjects; an 
extremely natural act on the part of one himself recently 
converted. There are those who allege that Rome was the 
quarter applied to for this aid. But this is not credi- 
ble. Says Mosheim: ''This man, probably being well 
disposed towards the Christian religion, or having al- 
ready embraced it, beheld with grief the superstition of 
the Britons, and with a view to its abolition, called in 
some Christian teachers from abroad;" but, that he 
''should have sent to Rome for the teachers, was, I 
suspect, altogether an invention of the monks of the 7th 
century, who, perceiving that the Britons were but lit- 
tle inclined to receive the laws and institutions of the 
Roman see, used every endeavor to persuade them 
that the British Church owed its foundation to the Ro- 
man Bishop." 

There was certainly no need for applying to Italy. 
For, in the first place, the Church in Gaul was equally 
friendly; as subsequent events showed. In the next, 
the Gallic Churches were equally able. There were 
Lyons and Vienne, strong Churches. So were they 
equally orthodox. There was the grand Bishop of 
Lyons, Irenaeus. And they were nearer; only the 
English channel divided them. They were, too, of a 
common origin, and for this reason alone, more likely 
to be applied to for aid. 

The effect of the conversion of Lucius was the natural 
one of stimulating the growth of the infant Church in the 



Island: no^v a member of the British Church, he would 
naturally seek to extend it among his people. And 
having so prominent a person before them as an ex- 
ample, the common folk would the more easily be led to 
embrace Christianity, as we know, in later days, thou- 
sands did after the example of Ethelbert upon his bap- 
tism. 

Lucius is said to have built the Church of St. Mar- 
tin's in the suburbs of Canterbury, and other Churches. 
The one just mentioned was the one the ruins of which 
were discovered by Queen Bertha, the iirst Christian 
Queen of England, and repaired by her orders and for 
her use. Lucius died A. D. 201, He is conjectured, 
says Lingard, to have been 'Hhe third in descent from 
Caractacus," the friend of St Paul; and is, (says he 
further) the person to whom England, on the general 
assertion of the British writers, owes largely its con- 
version to the Christian faith. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EASTERN INFLUENCE UPON THE BRITISH CHURCH. 

The grand center of the Apostolic Church was Jeru- 
salem. There, died the Lord. There, He told His 
disciples to remain awhile. Thence, radiated the in- 
fluences of the Gospel after the death of Stephen. 
There, had descended the dove-like power of the Holy 
Ghost. There, assembled the first council of the 
Church. 

And^ as Christianity is indebted to the East for the 



24 

first rising of the Sun of Righteousness^ so to the same 
quarter of the work! is Britain indebted for the bless- 
ings of her early conversion. 

How much more likely that the East should leave its 
impression upon Britain than that the West should. 
While Christianity was a tender plant in Rome, there 
were Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch and even Edessa, 
wdiere it had become stout of bough and luxuriant of 
foliage. Compare Jerusalem and Rome; the one, the 
star of the East, the other the Queen of the West. In the 
latter, was a small company, meeting in a private house; 
in the former, a completely organized Church. In the 
latter, Paul, a prisoner; in the former, James^ a resident 
Bishop. In the latter, a few^ saints in the household of 
Cesar; in the former, elders, apostles, and brethren, and^ 
when need was, in solemn council assembled. Compare 
Alexandria and Rome, peers in the list of patriarch- 
ates into w^hich early Christendom was divided. The 
former, indeed, soon paled, in influence, before the 
latter, but, in the earliest days, it was not so. She 
possessed the greater learning. She wielded the greater 
power. She struck the greater blows for the exten- 
sion of the kingdom. She made haughtier claims than 
Rome even had then ever done. Compare Antioch 
even, and Rome. When, the Church, in council assem- 
bled, passes canons and sends them out to the Church 
general to be observed, the Roman Church was not of 
sufficient age or size to be so much as mentioned in the 
order of promulgation. The decree of the council at 
Jerusalem reads: ''To the Brethren which are of the 
Gentiles in Antioch^ Syria, and Cilicia;" nota syllable 
of Rome. How much more likely that the East, the 



25 

quarter of strength, should have exercised an influence 
upon the British Church, than the West, the quarter^ 
not, indeed, of absolute, but of comparative, weakness. 
But not only was Eastern influence likely to be pow- 
erful, it was actually so. 

^'And the disciples were called Christians first in An- 
tioch." Here it is the East that baptizes Christianity 
w^ith the name it was destined»-to bear down all the cen- 
turies. Not Rome, the font at which the new religion 
received its name; but, Antioch. Not the Occident, 
its sponsor; but the Orient. Nor Italy, the lay priest 
that solemnizes the act, but Syria. And Greek, and 
not Latin, the language, from whose rich depths was 
dipped up the consecrating Avater. 

Again: ''I believe in the Holy, Catholic, Church." 
Here once more. Eastern influence preponderates: and 
Greek, the language of the early fathers, the language 
of St Paul even Avhen writing to Romans, is, again, 
the tongue from which is coined that name, of which 
this Church of ours has never, to this day, proclaimed 
herself ashamed. Whether Ignatius be, or be not, the 
author of the word. Catholic, Eastern it is beyond con- 
troversy. And whether Polycarp be, or be not, the 
earliest Bishop called by it, ''Catholic" is the rightful 
heritage of every Bishop of the Church, and ''Catholic- 
Christian," the highest title by which either Church or 
individual can be known. And this is oriental, and 
not occidental, Churchmanship. 

Again: the very word Chureli is of Eastern and not 
of Western origin. To the Roman, the equivalent was 
"a gathering." He never used the term. Church, or 
"Lord's House." Had the Church been planted in Ena;- 



26 

land by Rome, would it not have had a Roman name? 
Where the word Church did come to Britain from, is 
of easy conjecture; beyond doubt, from Aidan and the 
Scottish Bishops who all followed Eastern ways, and 
who, in later times, revived the Church in England. 

But, to mention some facts of a less general charac- 
ter. When Augustine, the monk, landed in Britain, he 
found Eastern customs o];)taining in the Island- Church. 
The British Church kept Easter at a slightly different 
time from that at which, he, a Roman Churchman, did. 
She also had different usages, as to the times and the 
mode of administering Baptism, from those of the Ro- 
man Church. She had also a different liturgy and form 
of worship, from that of the Church of Rome. She 
firmly refused, also, to acknowledge Augustine as her 
Archbishop, and the Bishop of Rome as her Patriarch, 
saying, that, from the beginning, she had never been 
under any others than her own native Bishops. She, 
also, distinctly asserted that she had derived her origin 
and her church usages from the Apostles of the Eastern 
Churches. 

Thus, we not only find it more likely that from the 
nature of things, the East should have influenced the 
British Church, but that, in point of fact, it did so 
influence her, both in several general ways, and in sev- 
eral special and very important ones. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GALLIC IXFLUEXCE UPON THE BRITISH CHURCH. 

The British Church and the Church in Gaul were 
near neighbors. Only a channel separated them. From 
this sister- Church the former received much of its 
Oriental usage. Thus, again, the East acts upon Britain; 
for the Asiatic birth of the Church in Gaul all admit. 
To St. John, the Gallic Church seems to owe its exist- 
ence. Photinus, Bishop of Lj^ons in the second cen- 
tury, was sent to that city by Polycarp, who had been 
one of St. John's disciples. Irenasus, second Bishop 
of Lyons, was also an Eastern. Besides Lyons, there 
was the venerable Church of Vienne. French writers 
assert that there were in Gaul in the second century 
many other places where the Church had been planted. 
At any rate, of the above we are certain, Asiatic in 
extraction, and consequently Oriental in usages. Eu- 
sebius calls them ''the two distinguished capitals, sur- 
passing all the rest of Gaul." L-engeus was called 
Archbishop of Lyons, and even Archbishop of France, 
to such a degree of influence had the Church there 
grown. Thus Asia acts upon Gaul, and Gaul reflects 
the light upon British shores. 

Another fact in corroboration of the Eastern extrac- 
tion of the Church across the channel. A bitter perse- 
cution breaks out in devoted Lyons. Blood was cheaper 
than water. To whom, now, do the Lyonese Christians 
turn for sympathy and aid ? Reads thus that remark- 
able address: ''The servants of Christ in Lyons and 
Vienne, in Gaul, to the brethren in Asia and Plirygia^ 
having the same faith and hope." The daughter of the 



28 

East, as naturally as a child turns in distress to its 
literal parent, turned in her distress, to her Eastern 
Mother. 

How natural to suppose that, during the persecution 
at Lyons and Vienne, the homeless should have fled 
across the channel to the Church with which they were 
in ecclesiastical, and to the people w^ith whom they were 
in personal, sympathy. At any rate, to St. John is 
given, by common consent, the honor of the paternity 
of the Gallic Church, and of the early British ecclesi- 
astical customs. Tho' he wrote her no letter, sent no 
message to her ''Angel," as he had occasion, as their 
metropolitan, to do, to the seven other Churches, his 
Asiatic progeny in the Gospel, still none the less is she 
twin-sister to Laodicea and Philadelphia. 

Such minor items as the fact that St. James, and not 
&t. Peter, presided at the cou.ncil at Jerusalem; that it 
was to Bishop James, and not to Bishop Peter, that 
St. Paul, the great missionary Bishop, made a report of 
his travels and official acts; that when the Church came 
together to arrange the Books of Scripture, she put the 
Epistle of St. James before those of St. Peter, — such 
items as these argue for the fact of a very great Eastern 
influence of a general character; and of its continuance, 
too, for a period long after the establishment of the Brit- 
ish branch of the Church. 

But of course the most striking evidences of an inde- 
pendent Eastern, andnot a dependent European, extrac- 
tion of the British Church, are the Eastern ways and 
usages found within her at the coming of Augustine. 
Difference of Church customs would be a novel argu- 
ment for identity of Church origin. With a different ser- 



29 

vice; different seasons for, and a sliglitl^^ different mode 
of, administering Baptism; a slightly different daj^ for 
Easter; a totally different tradition of the origin of its 
Church customs; and a total ignorance, in their native 
simplicity and geographical isolation, of the high-hand- 
ed claims which her sister Church of Rome had lately set 
up, ''by no sort of circumstantial evidence whatever," 
one may say, in the words of a great historian, ''could 
it be more clearly proved that it was from the East, 
namely from Asia, that the ancient Britons received 
their instruction in the Christian discipline." 

And, to show how the influence of the Church just be- 
yond the channel upon the British Church was continued; 
one Germain, as we shall see further on, seems by 
his coming to the help of the latter in times of consider- 
able need, to have knit more closely the bonds 
that existed between these two Churches. More of 
this when we reach his period; all I wish to say just 
here is, tlfat, in the 6th century in his letter to Augus- 
tine, Bishop Gregory seems to have either confounded 
these two Churches, or to have regarded them as vir- 
tually one, so alike w^ere they — a resemblance that 
could hardly have arisen from anything save their com- 
mon origin, and their friendly relations following from 
this, strengthened afterwards by the timely coming 
of Bishops Lupus and Germain at the beginning of the 
fifth century. 



so 

CHAPTER X; 

STATE OF THE BRITISH CHURCH UNTIL CONSTANTINE* 

Of the history of the Island- Churcli during the 3rd 
century, we have but little information. Says one, the 
oldest Briton historian, speaking of the records of the 
Church at that time; ''if there were any such, they were 
either burned or carried beyond the sea by the banishment 
of our countrymen." Bishop Sampson is said, by tra- 
dition, to have borne off many of these, when he fled to 
Little Brittany, in France. But the same writer 
assures us, that although Christianity Was not every 
where received in the Island, nevertheless in places 
where it was, it ''lasted through" fi^om then, "without 
the least discontinuance" to the beginning of the 4th 
century. An old Saxon writer gives us the additionjll 
testimony, that "the Britons preserved their faith tin- 
corrupted and entire" down to the same period. 

It is true, that, during the great persecution. 
Churches were dismantled aiid demolished, copies of 
the Scriptures burned, the elergy impoverished and 
slain, and the people nicartyred, "insomuch," sayg Gil- 
dar, "that in some provinces, there Avas scarcely any 
vestige of Christianity." 

A singular fact concerning the Diocletian persecution 
(A. D. 303,)— the last of what are called the ten gen- 
eral persecutions of the Christians — is, that this was 
the only one of all the ten that ever* reached the shores 
of Britain— the last persecution of the other Churches, 
the first of the British. 

Much, of course, is due to the remoteness of Britain 
from the headquarters of Christian persecution, and 



SI 

iiiitcii to the insular condition of the country, but may 
not much also have been due to the strong position in 
which the Church had entrenched itself in the Island ? 

And there is the further fact that while this persecu- 
tion lasted eight years in other places, it continued only 
two in Britain, and doubtless it was the strength and in- 
fluence of the British Church that induced Constantine 
Chlorus to become, in some measure, its protector. 
He was not a Christian. He was buried with Pagan 
rites, and, according to Roman custom toAvards de- 
ceased Emperors, was elevated to a place among the 
heathen gods. His kindness towards the Christians 
of Britain is best accounted for, iii the above manner* 
Even while he was only Cesar, he mitigated, to a great 
extent, the severity of his father's edicts. At York, 
where he resided, no persecution whatever took place. 
When raised to the dignity and authority of Augustus, 
Britain fell to his government, and he, at oncej put a 
stop to persecution, and thus, in a measure, became a 
forerunner of Constantine the Great, in tile protection 
of Christianit3^ 

One writer makes the Church to have grown, in the 
short reign of Lucius, to the extent of having no less 
than 28 Bishops. But, that such a fractional King 
should be of influence enough to spread the Church 
through the Vvdiole Island, in his brief reign, is against 
likelihood. Bounds of Dioceses settled all through the 
kingdom by a petty Prince, with, at most, but tw^o 
counties under his imperial scepter? Ko, venerable 
Geoffrey I 

Another savs that the Church did not o;ain m-ound in 
Britain, ''by degrees, as in other nations, but through 



32 

the whole Island, as it were, at once.'^ How far, then, 
the growth of Christianity, under a petty Prince, in a 
half savage Island, exceeded the growth of it, in the 
midst of the highest civilization, and under the benign 
influence of even a protecting Emperor ! What lessons 
Consta.ntine, in the 4th century, might have learned 
from Lucius in the second, if he had but humbly sat at 
Roman feet and been taught. No, fine Cardinal ! 

But such rhetoric as that of these two Avriters aside, 
that even during the raging of a general persecution, 
the young British Church was strong enough to com- 
mand protection, and grew and flourished, is to her 
great and lasting honor. 

In 314, Constantine the Great, a Briton-born, issued 
his edict in favor of the Christians, virtually 
making Christianity the religon of the empire. From 
this time, we step upon more certain ground. From 
this time, ^Y0 may date the beginning of greater pros- 
perity in the British Church; for, both East and West, 
the Churches enjoyed peace and tranquillity. 



CHAPTER XI. 

INDEPENDENT CHURCH COUNCILS DURING THE FOURTH 
CENTURY. 

While the embers of persecution had scarcely died 
out in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, a council 
of the Church in the West was called, in 314, at Aries, 
a city in what is now France. To this council, the 
British Church sent three native Bishops, Eborius of 



33 

York, Restitutus of London, and Adelsius of Caerleonj 
besides Sacerdos, a Presbyter, and Arminius, a Dea- 
con, as representatives. It was customary to summon 
a Bishop, with a few of the lower clergy out of each 
province, and the three above were the chief cities 
of the three provinces of early Britain. 

The chief acts of this council, that are now of inter- 
est to us, were, that those who had been baptized in the 
name of the Trinity should not be re-baptized; that Dea- 
cons should not celebrate the Holy Communion; that 
no Bishop should encroach upon the Diocese of another; 
that seven, or at least three, Bishops should be requir- 
ed to consecrate a Bishop; and that Easter should be ob- 
served everywhere on the same day. The duty of see- 
ing that this last was done, was entrusted to the Bishop 
of Rome. So also was there certified to him, out of 
form and courtesy, a list of the canons passed. But, 
in no other respect, was he a particle more honored 
than any of the other Bishops of the Church. He was 
written to as ''Your friendliness;" and not ''Your 
Holiness," and called "Dearest Brother," only. 

Eleven years after the above council, another met at 
Nice, a city of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. Arius, a 
Presbyter, had denied the Divinity of our Lord. His 
heresy, this council condemned; settled the time of 
keeping Easter; instructed the Bishop of Alexandria 
to determine the day each year, notify the East him- 
self, and (through the Roman Bishop) the West also; 
and set forth what is known as the Nicene Creed as far as 
^'And in the Holy Ghost," inclusive. Twenty canons 
were passed, several of them repetitions of those of 
Aries, as if for greater authority, this council being a 



84 

general one; the other, not having been. The sixth 
canon deserves attention. It provided that the vari- 
ous Bishops should strictly confine themselves to their 
respective Dioceses, and mentions the Bishops of Alex- 
andria, Antioch and Rome as among them; and that 
the ancient customs and privileges of each should be 
undisturbed. 

And here I may say, that, at this time, the juris- 
diction of the Bishop of Rome was only the city of 
Rome, a part of Italy around it, and the three Islands 
of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. To-day, he claims to 
be ' 'Rector Orbis," Rector of the world. There is 
more than one Rector whose parochial limits, unless I 
mistake, somewhat conflict with those claimed in the 
above title! 

At Nice, British Bishops Avere present and took part. 
Thus, early as 325, the Island Church takes part in the 
greatest Church Council held since the days of the 
Apostles, and helps to pass laws assigning the ecclesi- 
astical position of Rome itself. By this Council no 
supremacy w^as granted the Bishop of Rome. But he 
was treated with the same courtesy with w^hich the 
British Bishops and others were, which, being the head 
of the largest and most influential city in the world, it 
was only right he should be. 

Twenty-two years after this, another council met at 
Sardica. Here, again, came the British Bishops. One 
of the acts of this Council was, to allow a Bishop, if he 
should feel wronged by a decision in his own province, 
to ask the Bishop of Rom.e to examine his case, and if 
it should seem that wrong had been done him, topropose 
a rehearing; of the case in the same province in which 



35 

it was tried before. This was' out of courtesy to the Ro- 
man Bishop, as the head of a prominent Diocese. But it 
was no bestowal of any supremacy. All Bishops were, 
and by rights, are, equal. 

Twelve years 'after Sardica, a council assembled at 
Arminium. At this the British Church was represen- 
ted. Hilary says that two Bishops were summoned to 
this Council out of each province. The form of sum- 
mons of those days is still in existence. 

In 429, a synod was holden at Verulam, One Pela- 
gius, a native of Wales, taught that man may, if he 
please, keep himself sinless, and has no need of a Sa- 
viour. The British Church was greatly troubled about 
this and sent for advice — not to Rome — but to her own 
ecclesiastical kinsfolk across the channel. These 
Churches sent two of their most learned and eloquent 
Bishops (before spoken of), Lupus of Troyes, and Grer- 
main of Auxerre, over to Britain. They met the Eng- 
lish clergy and others at Verulam, and by the aid of 
these Bishops from the sister Church, the British 
Church speedily put an end to the teachings of Pela- 
gius. 

Bishop Germain appears to have made a second visit 
to Britain and to have brought over with him two dis- 
tinguished men; one of them, Dubricius, afterwards 
Bishop of Llandaff, a place that occupies a prominent 
position, from this time on, in the history of the Brit- 
ish Church. During this visit, Germain did a further 
service for the Church by founding a school of learning 
at Bangor, in North Wales: a city which became, in 
time, botli a nursery, andarefuge, of the British Church. 



36 
CHAPTER XII, 

FEOM THE COMING OF THE SAXONS TO THAT OE AU- 
GUSTINE, 

Up to 426, the Romans had protected the Britons 
against their great enemies, the Picts and Scots. But 
when, at this tim^e, the Roman assistance was withdrawn, 
the Northern tribes had Britain at their own mercy. 
The Saxons, from Germany, also took advantage of the 
withdrawal of the Romans, and spoiled those places of 
Britain nearest them. Besides this, a civil war broke 
out among the British chiefs themselves. It is said 
that, in this Vfar, nearly every Briton who had learned 
the Roman tongue from residing; with the Romans in 
their cities was cut off. Thus perished at once Roman 
influence and the Roman language in the Island, not 
for more than a hundred years to be revived. 

Deciding that the Saxons were the least to be feared 
of his enemies, Vostigern, Prince of Southern Britain, 
called in their aid, in 450, as his allies. Of them, there 
were three clans, the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons 
proper. They worshiped Thor (a kind of Saxon Jupi- 
ter), whence Thursday; Fria, when<3e Friday; Tuisco 
(a kind of Eneas), whence Tuesday; and Woclen (a kind 
of Mercury), whence Vf ednesday. 

It was not long before a pretext was found by these 
new allies for a rupture with the Britons, and they now 
overran all Britain, except the Western part, Wales. 
This they never conquered, and there, as we shall see, 
the British Church and the British language alike took 
refuge, and, with Bangor (before spoken of) as their 
common headquarters, continued to survive and flourish. 



87 

So much had the Saxon invasion and conquest de= 
pressed the Briton, that he seems never to have lifted 
hand or voice for the conversion of his conqueror, so 
that the cause of religion lay at a very low tide during 
nearly half a century. But at Bannesdown, about A. 
D. 489, the Britons gained such a victory over the 
Saxons as greathr to inspirit them, and to induce them 
to undertake the nesilected work of rebuildino; the di- 
lapidated Churches of the Kingdom, and restoring wor- 
ship. A synod was held (490), and the vacant sees of 
York and Caerleon filled by the appointment of Sampson 
to the former; and of Dubricius, as before intimated, to 
the latter. 

About this time, four of the seven Kingdoms into 
vrhich Britain was, at one time, divided, came into 
being; the other three, soon afterwards. The Saxons, 
thus occupying the most of the country, the Britiis 
Christians were obliged to flee. Many sought Little 
Brittany, before spoken of; and others, Wales. Samp- 
son, Bishop of York, fled to the former place; and afev/ 
years after. Bishops Theonas, of London, and Thadioc, 
of York, retreated, with the remnants of their flocks, to 
the latter. It is now chiefly in Wales, whose mountains 
afforded a safe retreat, and Cornwall and Cumberland 
near by, that, for some time, we must look for the 
British Church. There she had an Archbishop, Bish- 
ops, the lower orders of the clergy, Church edifices, a 
great many laity and two seats of learning, Caerleon^ in 
the South, and Bangor (already mentioned), in the 
North. It was from this quarter that the Church 
afterwards received incalculable help. The influence 
of the Welsh Church was most telling, especially from 



the middle of the seventh century (we are now at the 
5th), when intercommunion was for the 'first time prac- 
tically resumed by the joining of the Bishops of Corn- 
wall and Somerset with Wina, the Bishop of Wessex, 
in the consecration of Chad, to the year 1116, when the 
Welsh Archbishop of St. David's submitted to the see 
of Canterbury. 

And, now, to close our brief epitome of this period 
of the Church in Britain, it may be stated that prior to 
the Saxon invasion in 460, there had been fifteen Arch- 
bishops of London, and prior to the coming of Augustine, 
in 596, eleven national synods held; and that, at the com- 
ing of Augustine, there were seven Bishoprics and an 
Archbishopric filled with devout prelates, besides many 
places of learning.* 

With the year 596, begins a new and very eventful 
period in the life of the British Church. 

*Kidley Civ. and Ec. law, 142. 

Joyce Br. Synods, 109. 

Geofi: of Mon., Bk. XI, Ch. 12, 



CHAPTER XIIL 

THE COMINa OF AUGUSTINE. 

In 596, Gregory, Bishop of Borne, sent a monk 
named Augustine to England. Augustine found the 
following state of affairs: The Eastern part of the 
Island was almost entirely in the hands of the heathen 
Saxons. The Western was still in those of the Britons. 
The Kingdom of Kent, which had been founded now 



39 

since 450, was governed by one Ethelbert. Bertlia, 
daughter of Clotaire I., was his wife. She w^as a Chris- 
tian woman, and had had her religions privileges secured 
her by articles of marriage twenty-six years before. 
She had with her at her court a certain Bishop named 
Luidhard. She had repaired St. Martin's Church, near 
Canterbury, and appropriated it to purposes of public 
worship, for herself and court. Thus England, wdien 
Augustine landed at the island of Thanet. 

On his way Augustine had become discouraged, but 
was recruited at Aries, in France, by some French 
clergy v\^ho spoke the Saxon tongue, which he and his 
fellow-monks did not; and thus emboldened, he arrived 
at the mouth of the Thames, and awaited permission 
from the King to land. Much good resulted from 
Augustine's coming, as we shall see, but a great deal 
of it, perhaps the most of it, was owing not so much to 
him, as to the Saxon-speaking clergy who, as inter- 
preters, accompanied him. 

Augustine was, in due time, w^elcomed, as a mission- 
ary from a large and influential city would naturally be; 
though partly, no doubt, because Bishop Luidhard and 
Queen Bertha had prepossessed King Ethelbert some- 
what in favor of the toleration of Christianity. 

Ethelbert now assigned Augustine and the other 
clergy quarters in Canterbury, his principal city, gave 
them liberty to preach among his subjects, but candidly 
informed them that he himself was not inclined to be- 
come a Christian. In time, however, through the elo- 
quence and pious example of xlugustine and his fellow- 
clergy, he and other prominent Saxons did become 
converts, and from that time the mission of Augustine 



40 

began to gain ground in East England, but, in the 
Western parts, where, as we have seen, the British 
Church was strong, it did not. And here I would say 
that the sending of Augustine was to the heathen Sax- 
ons, not to the Christian Britons. Indeed, as before 
remarked, it would seem that Bishop Gregory, of Rome, 
had confounded the British Church with the Gallic, if, 
indeed, he was aware of its existence, in its far oflf 
island-home, at all. 

In 697, Augustine went to Aries, and was conse- 
crated Bishop by Virgil, of that city, and Etherius, 
Bishop of Lyons, and took the title of Archbishop of 
Canterbury. Gregory wanted twelve Bishops conse- 
crated and placed under a Bishop of York, and twelve 
under a Bishop of London, and Augustine to be primate 
over them all. This, with the seven British Bishops, 
would have made thirty-two Bishops in England, not 
including those of Scotland and Ireland, for these 
countries had received the gospel and the Church long 
before the coming of Augustine. The plan, however, 
failed. Only two Bishops, besides himself, were con- 
secrated during the life-time of Augustine, the Bishops 
of London and Rochester, Mellitus and Justus. St. 
Paul's, London, and St. Andrew's, Rochester, were 
now built. The deed for the land upon which the latter 
stands, is still shown, and is the most ancient legal 
document in England. The first laws ever set forth in 
the English tongue were about this time written. They 
were afterwards enlarged by Alfred. 

Gregory wished Augustine to be placed at London, 
but Ethelbert refused, and placed him at Canterbury. 
And from that time on, ancient custom required the 



41 

civil metropolis to be also the ecclesiastical headquar- 
ters. Augustine now wished to be placed over the 
French Bishops, or at any rate, over those resident in 
England, but Gregory reminded him that they had an 
Archbishop of their own. He, however, pretended to 
give him authority over '^all the Bishops of the Brit- 
ons," and soon after, sent him the ''pall," an ecclesi- 
astical garment indicative of authority. The act of the 
Roman Bishop in undertaking to put Augustine over 
all the British Bishops was one of wrong and usurpa- 
tion. It was in violation of those canons of the Church 
which forbade one Bishop intruding on the territory of 
another. As well might he have tried to place Augus- 
tine over the French Church as over the British, for 
the latter no less than the former had, as we have seen, 
its own Bishops, and its own independent ecclesiastical 
organization, as it soon had occasion to inform this 
Bishop Augustine to his face. 

For, now, after Augustine had pretty firmly estab- 
lished himself, he invited the British Bishops to meet 
him, which they did at Augustine's Ac, (or Oak) near 
the banks of the Severn. The meeting seems to have 
been brought about by Ethelbert, who, being Bretwalda, 
or ''Lord of Britain," had great influence, even outside 
of his own Kingdom of Kent. Lingard admits that this 
was not until near the close of Augustine's life. The 
Bishops were disposed to be friendly, but Augustine 
was haughty and dictatorial, and the first meeting came 
to nothins!;. A second meetino; was held at which were 
present seven Bishops, those of St. David's, LlandaiF, 
Landbardan, Bangor, and St. Asaph, with two from 
Cornwall and Somerset. Some have the list, St. 



42 

David's, Llandaff, Worcester, Bangor, Chester and 
Hereford. The learned men of Bangor, with Abbot 
Dinoth at their head, were also present in behalf of the 
ancient British Church. These Bishops, through 
Dinoth, their spokesman, declined to comply with the 
terms proposed by Augustine, and to accept him as 
their Archbishop, Says Lingard, the Roman Catholic 
writer, ^^each request was refused and his metropoliti- 
cal authority contemptuously rejected." 

In several respects, as before intimated, the British 
and the Roman Churches differed; one, the time of keep- 
ing Easter; another, the seasons for baptizing; another, 
some of the ceremonial details of the administration of 
that sacrament; and another was in their respective 
forms of service. 

Augustine insisted that these things should all be 
changed, and made to conform to the ways of the Ro- 
man Church; that the British clergy should join with 
him in trying to convert the Saxons, and that they 
should acknowledge him as their Archbishop, and the 
Roman Bishop as their Head. 

Their reply was in these words: ''The British 
Churches owe the deference of brotherly kindness and 
charity to the Church of God, to the Pope of Rome, 
and to all Christians. But other obedience than this 
they do not know to be due him whom you call Pope. 
Vfe are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caer- 
leon-upon-Usk." 

Augustine found no fault with the British Church, 
for its creed, soundness of views in any way, its histor- 
ical position, method of government, tone of morality, 
or for any thing except unimportant customs, and the 



43 

not acknowledging of the Bishop of Rome as its head. 

Indeed, as before said, this last, an unwillingness to 
be Romanized into a mere ecclesiastical colony of the 
Bishop of a part of Italy and three small Islands near 
by, was the head and front of its offending. It had that 
extent, — no more. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

EFFECTS OF AUGUSTINE's MISSION. 

In time, many were baptized and added to the Church, 
and thus, aided by the powerful influence of the Chris- 
tian woman. Queen Bertha, whom he found already, as 
it were, an active missionary on the field before him, 
and of the Frank Bishop Luidhard, and by the example 
of King Ethelbert, Augustine and his band of monks 
and Saxon-speaking French clergy, converted the 
Kingdom of Kent, a small but influential part of the 
Island of Britain. For fifty-five years the influence of 
his successors was considerable in Eno;land, but after 
the lapse of that time, it began to vrane. Deusdedit 
was the last Archbishop of Canterbury of the Augus- 
tine line. 

But while much is due to Augustine, far more is to 
the native clergy, for the extension of the faith to the 
Saxons. His preaching had the effect of diminishing 
the prejudices of the heathen Saxons against the Gos- 
pel. Koting this, the British clergy hastened to take 
advantage of it. As there had been war between the 
Britons and the Saxons, but little had been done 



44 

towards the conversion of the latter by the former. 
Nor could there have been. In the midst of arms, the 
Gospel is compelled to be silent and abide its time. 
But peace now reigning and the two peoples beginning 
to fuse somewhat, and Kent having become, as it were, 
an entering wedge for the cause of the Gospel among 
the conquerors of the Island, the native preachers were 
encouraged to come forth from their retirement; and, 
emboldened by their own successes, continued to preach 
the glad tidings of the cross far and near. Asaph, 
Columba, Kentigern, Finan, Chad, Aidan, Duina, and 
a host of others, each in his own turn and quarter, were 
the missionaries by whose efforts the greatest part of 
Saxon England was Christianized. Says one: '^Only 
two counties North of the Thames, Norfolk and Suf- 
folk, can be said to have been subjected to Roman 
direction, during; the transition from Pao;anism to 
Christianity, and those two were largely indebted to 
domestic zeal for their conversion. Every other county 
from London to Edinburgh, has the full gratification of 
pointing to the ancient Church of Britain, as its nurs- 
ing-mother. ' ' The conversion of the Southern counties, 
however, (save Cornwall,) was mainly due to Augustine 
and the other Roman missionaries. But of all these 
facts, more in detail hereafter. I mention them here, 
that the real weight of Augustin-e's influence maybe 
duly estimated; and this kept ever in the mind of the 
reader, that, after all, though he, in an indirect way — 
that of stimiulating the native clergy to greater zeal — 
disi much for the good of the English Church, she is 
indebted far more, for her growth, to the efforts of her 
own sons. 



45 

Whether Gregory was moved to add England to his 
territory by desire of popularity, by a true missionary 
zeal, by appeals from Queen Bertha, or by an anxiety 
to counterbalance in the West the territorial aggran- 
dizement of his rival Constantinople in the East, (for 
all these motives have been by different writers attrib- 
uted to him,) is hard to determine. Different views will 
be taken by different persons of his life, times and 
character. Perhaps the most charitable view is nearest 
the truth, that he had a real desire, perhaps at the wish 
and entreaty of Bertha, of benefitting his kind, and was 
actuated by a true missionary zeal for the Saxon hea- 
then. The point in which he erred, and at the same 
time violated the canons of his own branch of the 
Church, was, in claiming, or allowing Augustine to 
claim, jurisdiction, and setting up rival altars within 
the borders of the English Church. It would be no 
greater violation of good taste, and of Church law, for a 
a picked crew of English clergy to come from the pres- 
ent Archbishop of Canterbury, to New York City, 
drive Bishop Potter from his Diocese, take possession 
of Trinity Church in that citj, begin to ordain English 
clergy for our American congregations, substitute the 
English Prayer book for our own, and bring in English 
Church customs and English local Church laws, than 
it was for what was virtuallj^ the same thing to be done 
at that time in Britain. Sent to the heathen Saxons, 
Augustine had no right, moral or canonical, to lord it 
over the Christian Britons. And it will be a dark spot 
upon the disc of Gregory's brilliant Episcopate, that he 
permitted him to do so. 

At the same time, much is to be said for Gregory. 



46 

Several things show how powerless he was to resist 
when he desired to do so. One has been already no- 
ticed, the refusal of Ethelbert to place Augustine at 
London where Grregory wished him to go. Another 
relates to Augustine. Gregory had directed him to 
choose from the liturgies of the various Churches and 
to form such an one as should seem best suited to the 
wants of the new congregations. But Bishop Gregory 
w^as too generous and Catholic-minded for Bishop Au- 
gustine. And so, the latter, instead of selecting ''from 
every Church," as he had been directed, ''whatever is 
pious, religious and upright, and when made into one 
body, let the minds of the English be accustomed 
thereto," rigidly enforced the Italian mode of service 
to which he had been used at home. And so both the 
needs of the people, and the orders of his Bishop, were 
ignored at the same time. 

His demands of the British Bishops, that they should 
conform their local customs to the ways of the Italian 
Church, was also a violation of his orders, as well as 
another evidence of his small-minded Churchmanship. 
His directions had been, "We are not to love customs 
on account of the places from which they come" — not 
usages,because Italian, most Reverend Augustine, — 
"but let us love all places vfhere good customs are ob- 
served." But Augustine, Bishop, was far less subserv- 
ient than Augustine, monk, and insisted upon arbitrary 
conformity; — another proof that the submission of the 
British Church to him, was his chief, if not sole, aim, 
at the celebrated meeting at the Oak. 

In fact, it never seemed to have occurred to Augus- 
tine that Bishop Gregory had patriarchal rights in 



47 

Britain. He seems to have set himself up as the head 
of the English Church. Nor, indeed, did others seem 
to consider that Rome had acquired any rights over 
the Church there by virtue of this mission. It remained 
for after years to originate so bold a claim. 

Augustine died in 604, having (according to custom) 
consecrated a successor for himself, named Lawrence. 



MISPRINT. 

Page 20, line 9. — It should read: -^If, now, any one 
enquire how Christianity came to grow and spread in 
the* British Isles, as it did at this early period," &c. 



f 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

In press, uniform with this, 

AMiLiAR Words 



—ON THE- 



EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH, 



REV. R. W. LOWRIE, 



RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, WINONA, MINNESOTA 



SEI^-IES II, 
Snrora -AwHgiistine to tlie 'NovnxB.nmm 

Also, Series hi. ; from the Normans to 1784. Peice, each Series, 25 
cents ; the three, bound, Sl.OO. Clergy, half price. 



-Familiar W 



AMiLiAR Words 



-ON THE- 



ENGLISH CHUECH, 



REY, R. YI, LOWRIE, 



RECTOR OF ST. PAULAS CHURCH, WINONA, MINNESOTA, 



SERIES II. 



From A-ugustine to the N^ormans, 



50 
CHAPTER I. 

BISHOP LAWRENCE.— NATIVE INFLUENCE, 

Lawrence, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, soon 
began endeavoring to induce the British Bishops to 
submit to the Roman Church, but, like his predecessor, 
failed. He wrote to the Northern Scots that he had 
supposed their Church similar in customs to his own^ 
but that, on getting to England, he found that it was 
not. He now hoped that they would conform. They 
refused. Here is shown at once that the Bishops of 
Rome had never controlled the Churches in the British 
Islands, for, if they had, their agent, Lawrence, would 
never have been so ill-informed. Here is also shown 
that, even in Lawrence's judgment, as in that of Au- 
gustine, these Churches were true branches of the 
Church Catholic, for not only is no exception taken to 
their creed and mode of government, but offers of rec- 
ognition and full fellowship made. 

To the unjust demands of Lawrence, the native 
Bishops and other clergy could no more submit than 
they could to those of his predecessor, and although for 
several hundreds of years, the English Church did come 
to submit, out of weakness and inability to resist, it 
was always under protest; and as soon as the favorable 
moment arrived refusing any longer to bend her neck, 
she threw from it the yoke of Rome and resumed her 
olden place as a free and independent Church. In 
other words, she caused to cease a control the com- 
mencement of which was itself unjust and illegal, on 
the sound reasoning that that which is, in itself, wrong, 
no possible lapse of time can make right. 



51 

As Etlielbert was now dead and his successor was 
not a Christian, the Church began to suffer persecution 
at the hands of the unconverted heathen. Mellitus, and 
Justus, Bishops of London and Rochester, both fled 
out of the country on account of the opposition of the 
Saxons. But presently Lawrence w^ho had stood his 
ground, succeeded in converting Eobald, the successor 
of Ethelbert, and they returned. 

Li 625. Edwin was Bretwalda, or Lord of Britain. 
He, having married Ethelburga, daughter of Ethelbert 
of Kent, with the understanding that she and her house- 
hold should be unrestricted in their religion, Paulinus 
was (625) consecrated by Justus (Lawrence and Melli- 
tus being now dead and he being Archbishop of Can* 
terbury), and accompanied her as Bishop in Northum- 
bria. Paulinus was prudent and advanced slowdy; but, 
in time, established the Church on a firm footing in this 
part of England. The infant daughter of Edwin and 
eleven of the royal household were soon baptized by 
him, and Edwin himself soon after, i. g., on Easter Day 
of 627 at York. The Church, from this beginning, 
soon greatly increased; Churches were built, the Bish- 
opric of York restored; and a Cathedral erected in that 
city. Subsequently, Paulinus was transferred, by 
Ilonorius, now Archbishop of Canterbury, from York 
to Rochester. 

Thus we have the Kingdom of Kent, Essex and 
Northumbria converted by the agency of Augustine 
and his fellow-laborers and immediate successors. 
These were the only parts of England converted by 
their influence. And two of these soon relapsed into 
paganism, and had to be reconverted by the British 



52 

Bishops and other clergy; Essex, by Oedda, Bishop of 
Tilbury; and Northumbria, by the Scots. Wessex, 
the only other Saxon Kingdom, save Sussex, converted 
by the influence of Bishops in the interest of Rome, was 
brought over by a Bishop from Genoa, in 653, one 
Birinus. And, in passing, it is noticeable that this 
Bishop took no exception to the soundness of the Scot 
Church, for, when he baptized King Kingil, he allowed 
Oswald, a member of that Church, to stand as god- 
father. And even Lingard admits that the Scot Church 
was sound in the faith. I mention that, because, in 
after times, Scot blood came into the veins of the Eng- 
lish Church. 

The East Anglians v/ere converted in 631 by Felix, 
a Burgundian Bishop, brought to England by Sigebert, 
successor of King Edwin; Mercia and the Middle An- 
gles, by the Scottish clergy and their disciples; and in 
681, Sussex, the last division, by Wilfrid, who had 
been ordained in France. 

From 596 to 635 — 39 years — the chief missionary 
work seems to have been done by the Roman Bishops 
and other clergy and a few persons from France; but 
from the latter date, British influence reasserts itself 
in the Chu.rch, As intimated in a previous chapter, 
thirty years before the comiing of Augustine, one Co- 
lumba had converted a great many of the Picts and 
Scots of the North of Scotland. He founded the famous 
school of learning, at lona, one of the Western islands, 
and from this, and others of his founding, not only was 
the gospel spread among the people immediately around, 
but from this same source, about one hundred years 
afterwards, came his faithful disciples and successors, 



53 

who did far more than any others to restore the ravages 
of the Saxons in England. The growth of the gospel 
and Church during the fifty-five years immediately after 
the coming of Augustine was specially owing to the 
disciples of Columba. ■ 

And now Edwin is dead. He is succeeded by Oswald, 
as Bretwalda. This Saxon King had once found refuge 
among the Scottish Princes, and had learned of Chris- 
tianity during his sojourn among them. He now sends 
to them for a Bishop for his people, and Aidan, a dis- 
ciple of Columba, is, in 635, sent from lona and becomes 
Bishop of Lindisfern: Other clergy came with him, and 
by their aid the Church was greatly extended. Thus 
Briton influence takes the place of Roman in North- 
umbria. In fact, the Church owes every thing in this 
part of England to this faithful and devoted champion 
of her cause. Both Felix, the East Anglian Bishop, and 
Honorius, of Canterbury, seem to have considered the 
Northumbrian Church as a sound part of the Church gen- 
eral, and Aidan, the Scot Bishop of Lindisfern, a true and 
valid Bishop, even though his orders did not flow from 
the same immediate source as theirs. Bede praises Aidan 
in such a way as he could ho.rdly have done if he had not 
held his orders in the highest esteem. And Lingard as 
well. I refer to him thus, to show that now that Scot 
blood has entered the veins of English orders, it has 
brought no ecclesiastical taint with it even in the minds 
of the wisest doctors. Aidan was a noble man, and a 
meek Christian, thoughtful of his poor, and fearless of 
his rich. Finan, Colman and Tuda, feriov>'-countrymen, 
in turn succeeded him. 

Of Cedda, a Saxon Priest, consecrated bv Finan, 



64 

the second Bishop of Lindisfern, to be Bishop of Lon- 
don, in place of Mellitus (now dead), but placed at 
at Tilbury because London was in the hands of ene- 
mies, the Mercians, we have spoken above. Through 
him Essex, which had relapsed (as has been said) was 
brought back; and thus Saxon influence began to be 
felt even in Roman Essex. 



CHAPTER II. 

BISHOP THEODORE. — GREAT PROSPERITY OF THE 
ENGLISH CHURCH. 

And now, we approach a period of greater prosperity 
in the island-Church, under the wise rule of the Greek- 
born Archbishop, before spoken of. It is the beginning 
also of the unification of the Churches. 

Theodore, with the consent of the Saxon Kings, was, 
about 670, received as Primate over the English Church; 
and thus was given to the see of Canterbury an honor 
it had not before had; for, although it had claimed a 
Primacy ever since Augustine, it had never seen it 
generally and formally recognized. 

Theodore exercised a great influence over his clergy 
and people. He greatly increased the number of Bish- 
ops, having found the number existing insufficient for 
the wants of the Church. Out of the one Diocese of 
York, he made no less than four Dioceses; and, by his 
own efforts, and those of his immediate successor, the 
number of Saxon Bishops was increased from seven to 
seventeen. 



OD 



He, also, greatly encouraged learning among the peo- 
ple; introduced the custom of holding yearly, and also, 
national, synods; improved the method of electing Bish- 
ops; extended the system of Parish Churches, by pro- 
viding that those who paid tithes should pay a part of 
them to the Parish clergy, and not all of them (as 
hitherto) to the Bishops, and by allowing those who 
erected a Church to have the right of patronage in it. 

In fine, he sought in every way in his power to im- 
prove the condition of the Churches over which he had 
been placed. No labor was too great, and no detail 
too laborious, for him. He made a journey through 
England, and, by personal inspection, rectified errors 
and abuses, and produced greater uniformity of wor- 
ship; stimulated the zeal of the clergy; ordered the 
seminaries of learning; required the regular and plain 
preaching of the Gospel, and the due and solemn cele- 
bration of the Sacraments; regulated the mode of ad- 
ministering discipline both for clergy and people; and, 
in every way, heightened the tone, and extended the 
blessings, of the Church, and gave to the cause of the 
Gospel a greater degree of vitality than it had ever 
before enjoyed in the Island. Several who afterwards 
became Bishops in the English Church were his pupils. 

To few, does the English Church owe a greater debt 
of gratitude than to this great Greek-born Archbishop. 
He died A. D. 690, after a successful and fruitful 
Episcopate of twenty-one years. 



56 
CHAPTER III. 

BISHOP BRIGHTWALD. — SOME EARLY CHURCH CUSTOMS 
AND LAWS. 

In 692j Brightwald was elected to succeed Theodore, 
and was the following year consecrated by Godwin, a 
Welsh, or, as some will have it, a French, Bishop. 
Brightwald was, by no means, as brilliant a Bishop as 
his predecessor; still his Episcopate was one of no 
little interest to the Church, and some of the events of 
his period deserve particular notice. 

One of these, is the promulgation of the first code of 
ecclesiastical law that was upheld by the civil arm. 
Among the provisions of these laws was one that every 
parent, under penalty for disobedience, should see that 
his children were baptized; that the Lord's Day should 
be strictly observed by high and low; and that regular 
contributions should be paid by all who were able for 
the. support of the Church. 

Although Kings and Princes had been severally con- 
verted before (though often only nominally), and Chris- 
tianity had become the religion of the Kingdom, here 
is the first public enactment of it by royal statute, so 
that some regard this as the formal becoming of Eng- 
land a Christian Kingdom, 

And, it must be kept in mind, that, though these are 
the laws of but the one Kingdom of Wessex, this King- 
dom now embraced a good part of the whole Island; 
for, besides being large at first, there had been added 
to it all South of the Thames, except Kent; and, that it 
came in time to absorb all the rest of the Saxon Hep- 
tarchv. 



5T 

At this time, reappears one of the early British 
Church customs, that of the attendance of the laity at 
the synods of the Church. The participation of the 
laity in Church matters is found even as early as the 
synod held by the Welsh Bishops for conference Avith 
Augustine; for, we learn, from Bede, that from the first 
of the two meetings held, these Bishops retired, in order 
that they might consult the laity before giving a final 
reply. 

JJuring Brightwald's Episcopate, met the synod of 
Bergamsted. At this, were present the Archbishop, 
the Bishops, and many of the other clergy, and again 
the more prominent and influential of the laity. At this 
council, the freedom of the Church to regulate all her 
own affairs was plainly set forth, — a right afterwards 
confirmed in the o;reat Mama Charta. Another note- 
worthy step taken by this Council was the introduction 
of the custom of prajdng publicly for those in authority 
— prayers for the King being ordered to be always made 
in public service. So old is this custom of the Eng- 
lisli Church and Prayer-Book. 

And just here, in passing, a strong proof of the inde- 
pendence of the Britisii Church from all foreign influ- 
ence. The abuse of the Monastic system hau grown 
so great, that Bede, though a Monk himself, was con- 
strained to write to the Bishop of York and urge him 
to make a visitation to the monasteries. ''It is your 
province," wrote he, 'Ho take care that the Devil does 
not get the upper hand in these places." ''Hence we 
may conclude," says Collier, "that the Monasteries 
were not then wrested out of the Bishop's jurisdiction 
by Papal exemptions," as they came to be. Neither 



58 



the civil arm at home, nor any ecclesiastic from home 
had, at that time, the right of jurisdiction over the 
domestic affairs of the British Church. She was, as 
she had a right to be, and, as from the days of St. 
Paul, she had been, the autocratic English Church; as 
free of Rome, as Rome, of her. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BRITISH INFEUENCE AGAIN ACTIVE.— BISHOP WILFRID, 

We now come to Mercia and the Middle Angles; 
and this requires a moment's retrospect. It so hap- 
pened that there was no Archbishop of Canterbury from 
666, to 669. Honorius, the last of the Italian Arch- 
bishops — those from Augustine to him had been all 
Italians — died about 656. After a vacancy of about 
eighteen months, a West Saxon Priest, Frithona, was 
consecrated by Ithamar, the Bishop of Rochester; and 
thus Saxon influence reached even the see of Canter- 
bury, but it was the first time, nor did it continue long. 
For, upon the death of Frithona (called also Deusde- 
dit) in 666, one Theodore, a Greek, born at the birth- 
place of St. Paul, Tarsus of Cilicia, was sent to be- 
come Archbishop of Canterbury. One Wighard had 
been selected to succeed Bishop Frithona, but had 
died before he could be consecrated. 

During these three years of vacancy, difficulties had 
arisen in the Diocese of York. When the new Arch- 
bishop, Theodore, arrived, he found that Diocese 
claimed b}^ two bishops, Chad, and Wilfrid. The for- 



merliad been consecrated at the great wish of King Os- 
wy, by Wini, the Bishop of Winchester, assisted by 
two Welsh BishopSj probably those of Cornwall and 
Somerset, thus, for the first time for sixty years, the 
Welsh and Saxon Churches uniting in an ofiicial act. 
The latter, Chad, unwilling to be consecrated at home, 
had gone to France for consecration. And, as before 
said, these two Bishops were setting up claims to the 
same Diocese, York, 

Theodore settled the dispute, by assigning the j^outh- 
ful and dashing Wilfrid to York, and by the use of his 
own influence, getting the gentle and lovely Chad made 
Bishop of Lichfield. 

And so, from Diuna, a Scot, and Chad, a Saxon, the 
Mercians and Middle Angles received the Church; and 
as both were consecrated by Britons, British influence 
preponderated in this Kingdom also. 

And now, of Sussex. Wilfrid was before long de- 
posed by Theodore, because he w^as unwilling to have 
his immense Diocese of York divided. Wilfrid threat- 
ened to appeal to Rome, but so little had the power of 
the Roman Bishop to hear appeals from the Bishops 
of other countries been heard of in Britain, that the 
persons who heard the threat are said to have laughed 
outright in his face. No such proposal had ever before 
been heard of in the free and independent British 
Church. — King Ecgfrid and Archbishop Theodore both 
entirely ignored the Roman See in all their local 
Church matters. Even Cuthbert, in siding with them, 
practical^ did the same. 

Wilfrid persisted in going to Rome with his com- 
plaint^, and, in time, returned with a letter from the 



60 

Bishop of that city urging his reinstation; but, so 
slight was the influence of the Roman Bishop at that 
time in England, that not only did the King accuse 
Wilfrid of having bribed that Bishop in order to get 
such an unheard of letter, but, with the consent, too, 
of Wilfrid's brother Bishops, threw the appellant into 
prison for his disloyal behaviour. A word further of 
Wilfrid in a separate chapter. 

During the period between the subsequent release of 
Wilfrid and his restoration to a portion of his Diocese, 
as the small Kingdom of Sussex vfas still heathen, he 
turned his attention towards this quarter, and convert- 
ed it. And, thus, as late as 681, the last of the small 
Kingdoms into w^hich England was then divided, was 
Christianized. 

And, thus, while from 696 to 635, — a period of 39 
years, Roman influence preponderated, from 635 it be- 
gan to be disputed by that of the native British Bish- 
ops, showing, in this way, the innate strength of the 
Briton Church, which the moment adverse circum- 
stances changed to favorable, came forth from its com- 
pulsory retirement and inactivity, and did yeoman's 
service for the sacred cause. 



61 
CHAPTER Y. 

WILFRID. — THE BRITISH CHURCH INDEPENDENT IN HER 
OWN LOCAL AFFAIRS. 

The varied life of Wilfrid seems 'to call for special 
notice, as it throws great light upon the relations of 
the English, to the Roman, Church at that early day. 

As before said, the Diocese of York was divided 
into several parts; Bishop Cuthbert placed over one 
part, and Bishops Bosa and John over others; — all, 
wise and holv men. The willinmess of these o-ood 
men to taRe parts of Bishop Wilfrid's diocese when 
legally divided, although it vfas in face of the letter of 
the Bishop of Rome that Wilfrid should have his whole 
charge back, shows in how little esteem the best and 
wisest of the brave British Church held the recom- 
mendations of the Bishop of Rome. 

But, other evidences of the same fact. Late in life, 
Theodore wrote Wilfrid that they had better become 
friends once more, and is even said to have offered to 
use his influence to have this Bishop succeed him as 
Archbishop of Canterbury. Wilfrid's reply is noticeable. 
He declined the offer, saying that the matter had 
better be left for the decision of a full assembly of the 
Church. From this, it will be seen that the office of 
Archbishop was not to be filled arbitrarily by the Bishop 
of Rome, but depended upon the free choice of the 
Bishops, other clergy and laity, in legal body assembled. 

Wilfrid had been released from his imprisonment, but 
placed in exile. But Theodore prevailed upon Alfrid, 
King of the Northumbrians, to allow him to return, 
first to Hexham, then to York, ^^ e., York, in its re- 



62 

duced dimensions. But soon, the restive young Bishop, 
refusing to be subject to the canons, was again ban- 
ished. During his banishment a synod was held and 
Wilfrid invited to it. A part of his speech before it 
deserves notice. In it, he says that the Bishops had 
obeyed Theodore, their Archbishop, rather than the 
Bishop of Rome; and, that for twenty-two years, they 
had done so. All which shows only too clearly hoAV 
little the pretences of the Roman Bishop to authority 
over the British Church were regarded by that Church; 
and how far the British Bishops were from considering 
their Church as a mere colony of Rome. 

Wilfrid again going in person to the Bishop of 
Rome, Brightwald, the successor of Theodore, in order 
that that Bishop might be informed upon both sides of 
the controversy, sent unofficial messengers to Rome 
for that purpose. After four months' delay, and the 
meeting and adjourning of no less than 70 local synods, 
(probably only sessions), Wilfrid was upheld by the 
Roman Bishop, John VII. and 125 of his Bishops, and 
a letter forwarded to Britain, in which it was proposed 
that with a view of a settlement, Brightwald should 
call a synod; that Wilfrid, Bosa and John should all be 
present; that if any Bishop should refuse to consent to 
this, he should immediately be deposed; if any layman, 
that he should be excommunicated. 

To show how little attention was paid to all this. 
King Alfrid refused to listen to the order of the Italian 
Bishop, although Brightwald seems to have wavered a 
little. The King died and never obeyed it. 

Alfrid was succeeded by Edulf. As the new King 
had been formerly a friend of Wilfrid's, this Bishop 



60 
O 

now endeavored to obtain his assistance, but failed to 
get it; being, indeed, on the contrary, allowed but a 
week to take himself off from court with his complaints. 

Soon Osred came to the throne, and Brightwald 
called the council of Nidd (A. D. 705). At this council 
the before-mentioned letter was read. The synod 
bluntly refused to accept the proposals it contained, 
and declined to restore Wilfrid as requested, justly 
resenting the interference of the Roman Bishop in their 
local affairs. 

King Alfrid's sister, however, wdth the aid of the 
Archbishop, finally prevailed upon the Bishops, and part- 
ly through the influence of this royal lady and that of 
Brightw^ald, and partly for the sake of peace — the dis- 
pute having now lasted years, — Wilfrid w\^s restored, as 
before said, to a portion of his Diocese; but into the 
remainder of it, he never came, the Bishop of Rome's 
influence and so-called authority to the contrarj' not- 
withstanding. So little were the sails of British inde- 
pendence in local Church matters trimmed to 
catch the gales of opinion that blew from Italian shores! 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOME SYNODS OF THE EiaHTH CENTURY. — ''PETER= 

PENCE." 

The Roman Bishop was now endeavoring to push his 
authority over the English Church to still greater 
lengths than ever before. And one Boniface, Bishop 
of l^Ientz, had also meddled in the affairs of the English 



64 

Church, and had sent over a copy of some canons just 
passed by his own synod, and tried to induce Guthbert, 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, to enforce them in 
England. 

But at Cloveshoe (A. D. 747), the English Bishops 
indignantly resented the interference of both Boniface 
and the Roman Bishop. Of that Council, two canons de- 
serve special notice. One required, ''Every English Bish- 
op to maintain the canons and constitution of the Church 
against every encroachment." Another was, ''That the 
clergy should keep up a good correspondence with each 
other, without flattering applications to any person.*' 
These canons were aimed against the designs of the 
Bishop before spoken of. And thus it was ever. Al- 
though the free and independent English Church did, 
finally, in a great measure, come under the deleterious 
influence of the Roman Bishop, nothing in all her his- 
tory is truer than that she made a stout resistance to 
the last. 

At the council of Calcuith, two Bishops, one of 
Ostia and the other of Todi appeared as the Bishop of 
Rome's Legates. This was the first appearance in 
Britain of any one in this capacity. For John, whom 
certain writers try to invest with the legatine character, 
and who had been in England, was not a legate; he was 
choir-master at Rome, and his business in England was 
to teach Church music. Lingard himself calls him 
"precentor of St. Peter's." Indeed, these legates 
themselves mention, in a letter home, that they were 
the first who had ever come to Britain as such. Forty 
years had now passed since the defiance of the Kentish 
Bishops at Cloveshoe, and the boldness of the Roman 



6n 

Bishop had increased in proportion as the ability of the 
English Church to resist had diminished. Slowly the 
brave though still resisting English Church was coming 
under the yoke of her ambitious rival; although it must 
be kept in mind, to her eternal credit, that the moment 
her strength returns, she rises fearlessly to her feet, 
and, at the Reformation, casting off the chains of cen- 
turies, resumes her olden free and independent attitude. 
About this time, began a custom, in after years a 
source of much trouble to the Church. Offa, King of 
the Mercians, granted to the English College at Rome, 
a penny for every family in the twenty-three counties 
over which he was ruler, whose yearly rent was not 
less than thirty pence. This was the beginning of 
what came to be called "Peter-pence," from being pay- 
able on St. Peter's Day. Not long afterwards, another 
grant of three hundred and sixty-five marks ($600), one 
mark for every day in the year, was made by Ethelwolf. 
These gifts were not taxes, but charities; yet in time, 
like those free gifts that used to be given upon the pre= 
sentation of the "pall," they came to be considered as 
the rightful dues of the Roman pontiff. And in the 
time of Edward the confessor, laws came to be passed 
making their payment compulsory. From so meager 
a beginning, rose that great evil which it required all the 
power of statute law to terminate in the reign of Hen- 
ry VIII. ; an evil, however, which, receiving accelera- 
ting force from other abuses, greatly hastened the peri- 
od of the Reformation; for, besides the anger of Henry 
towards the Roman Bishop, growing out of his mar- 
riage, another motive that, beyond all doubt, greatly 
swayed him in casting out the Roman influence and 



m 



power in England, was a desire to divert towards his 
own revenue, the sums that were annually drained out 
of his Kingdom into the foreign and hostile coffers of 
the Italian Bishop . 



^ CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHURCH CALLED NOW 

— =ALrPvED THE GREAT. 

From this time on, the proper title of the Church 
whose historv we have been considering, is *^'The 
Church of England. At first, the ''British Church''; 
then the Anglo-Saxon and Welsh Churches composed 
her; and now properly the ''Church of England." For 
Egbert, King of Wessex, conquers, in turn, all the 
other Kings of the Island; renders the title "Lord of 
Britain" hereditary in his own family; and — the first 
who ever bore the dignity- — is, at a convention of the 
nobles of the late Kingdoms, solemnly declared "King 
of Eno;land." As the Andes was the most numerous of 
the Saxon clans who had come over from Germany to 
the British Isles, the whole realm now^ assumed the 
name of England, an abbreviation of Angle-land; and 
the Church followed her example. 

And now we enter upon an interesting period of the 
English Church. In the third quarter of the ninth 
century, Alfred the Great succeeded to the English 
throne; the youngest of five sons, the other four having 
but mounted the throne before they were killed by the 
Danes, who were at that time ravaging the Island, lay- 



61 

ing waste its chief cities, sacking its monasteries, de- 
facing its altars and monuments, burning its libraries, 
and butchering its inhabitants. 

By the prowess of Alfred, the Danes were at last 
checked in their devastations: and, by his example and 
influence, some of them converted to Christianity. 

Alfred now turned his attention to the praiseworthy 
duty of seeing that both the Kingdom and the Church 
should have laws suited to their respective needs. Being 
a diligent scholar (for those daysj he translated, with 
the aid of some of the clergy, portions of the Scriptures, 
a Church history, and other books; restored, it is 
claimed, the University of Oxford; and, by means of 
the few learned men who were left from the dreadful 
havoc of the Danes, and of distino-uished foreimers 
wdiom he invited over, soon raised up a body of clergy 
competent to sustain the dignity, and perform the du- 
ties, of Bishops for the destitute sees. 

A remarkable fact of his reign is, that, though there 
passed much civility between this good and wdse Prince, 
and the Bishop of Rome, Alfred even at times sending 
him donations of money, there were no interferences of 
the Bishop of the Imperial city, no sending of legates, 
and no threatening; of bulls, during; his entire rei^n of 
more than a quarter of a century. Alfred died A. D, 900, 



68 
CHAPTER VIII. 

BUNSTAN AND HIS TIMES. 

To skip from Alfred to Dunstan, is to pass over 
quite a space, but I am compelled to do so by the nature 
of these epitomes. 

Dunstan was educated abroad, and came back to 
England with certain foreign notions; among them, a 
love for the Monkish mode of life. He became the first 
Benedictine Monk in England. He affected great 
sanctity of life, but did not disdain a great stretch of 
his power whenever he deemed it needful. 

One day, offending King Edwy by rebuking him too 
stoutly before the courtiers for his ill-conduct, he was 
banished by this King, and deprived of the abbeys which 
had been conferred upon him. He was, however, soon 
recalled by Edgar, successor of Edwy; and made first 
Bishop of Worcester; then, of London; and finally (on 
the death of Odo), Archbishop of Canterbury; and was 
allowed to do almost whatever he liked in Church affairs. 

Befriended by King Edgar, a young King, and the 
Bishops of York and Winchester, Dunstan endeavored 
to get Monks appointed to all the vacant places, and to 
compel all the married clergy to put away their wives. 
The English Church did not, at that time, require her 
clergy to remain unmarried, and the proposal of Duns- 
tan was bitterly resisted. A majority of the Monas- 
teries and nearly all the Cathedrals were in charge of 
married clergy living quietly in the midst of their 
families. The evils of the Monastic life were many. 
At first Monasteries were mostly in the nature of col- 
leges. Those who resided in them were not drones as 



69 

the dwellers in these houses afterwards became. Nor 
did they lead questionable liveSj as, in after years, many 
came to do. But the evils of the Monkish life were 
always many. The vows of the Monk were for life. 
He bound himself to perpetual celibacy. He swore to 
own nothing in the world, not even his book and pen. 
He promised to obey his abbot, or chief, and not even 
exercise his ministry without his consent, thus putting 
himself beyond the regular authorities of the Church. 
All this, however, the Reformation happily ended. 

Some of the Church laws, passed in Dunstan's time, 
were exceedingly good, and show the temper of the 
brave old English Church, notwithstanding the evil 
times in which she was placed. 

By these, the clergy were required to have a proper 
service-book for the Holy Communion, and not to trust 
to extempore words on so solemn an occasion; to ap- 
pear, in all official acts, in a surplice; to preach each 
Lord's day; to see that infants should be baptized 
wdthin six weeks after their birth, and be taught, at a 
proper age, the Creed, and Lord's prayer, and, in due 
time, confirmed; and to see that the Holy Communion 
should be reverently administered; that there should be 
pure bread, pure water and pure wine for the purpose; 
that — to avoid superstition — it should not be celebrated 
by any clergyman when he had no one to pa-rtake with 
him; and that, if any of the consecrated bread should 
become so stale as to be unfit to eat, it should be burned. 

One event in the life of this Archbishop, and I shall 
have done with him. An earl, having made an illegal 
marriage, and being disciplined by Dunstan for it, ap- 
pealed to the Bishop of Rome who sent an order that he 



' 70 

should be released by Dunstan from the punishment 
under which he was resting. This, Dunstan positively 
refused to obey, saying, that to save his own life, he 
would not do it, unless the earl should first repent and 
reform. The officers of the English Church had not 
yet learned to take their orders from Italy ! 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE EVE OF THE NORMANS. 

We are now at the year A. D. 1000. Not very much 
of general interest to the Church took place from this 
time to the coming of the Normans in 1066. 

Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, affords, however, 
one episode of interest. He was suspended by the 
Bishop of Rome, ^. ^., he w^as not suspended by the 
Bishop of Rome. The Bishop of Rome informed him 
that he was suspended; but he might as rightfully have 
tried to suspend the laws of gravitation; it was foreign 
to his office and to his power. He had no more juris- 
diction over the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the 
English Church, than the Patriarch of Constantinople 
has to-day over the Bishop of Minnesota, and the Church 
in America. The English Church had never recognized 
his authority; and so far as she had ever even seemed 
to do so, it was a submission forced upon her b}^ cir- 
cumstances; one against which she ever protested; and 
one w^hich she fully repudiated the moment Providence 
placed it within her power to do so. 

Stigand, knowing the attempted suspension was ille- 



71 

gal, and an mterferencej disregarded it, and continued 
to exercise liis oflBce, the English Church gladly receiv- 
ing his acts as heretofore, thus showing how little she 
cared for a pretended suspension by a foreign Bishop. 

And now (to pass over much time), Edward 'Hhe 
Confessor" being dead, Harold and William of Nor= 
mandy contend for the throne of England. At the 
battle of Hastings, the day results in favor of the latter. 
Edgar Atheling was the right! ul heir; but the Bishop 
of Kome, who had not fared very well in meddling with 
the afi'airs of the English Church, during the usurpation 
of Harold, and there being but a small party in favor of 
Edgar, gave his influence for William, blessed his ban- 
ners, and required him, in return, in case he should be 
successful, to aid the claims of the Roman see in his 
new Kingdom. 

This second series terminates with the Norman con- 
quest; but, before taking leave of my subject, I shall 
glance a moment over the boundary I have thus fixed 
for myself. 

Under the Normans, matters went from bad to worse; 
and from worse to w^orse still, in the English Church. 
Foreigners were put into nearly all the prominent places 
of the Church, and the clergy already occupying them 
forced to leave, or — the few that did remain — compelled 
to render feudal service. No council of the Church 
could be held without the consent of William. Not a 
Saxon was advanced to any dignity or powder for a full 
century after the conquest. The service was now said 
in Latin, and for 150 years not a sermon, it is said, 
was preached in the people's language. The Bishop of 
Rome's power greatly increased; and many errors of 



doctrine and of discipline were allowed to creep in. 
Indeed, from this time, we may date the great influx of 
evil doctrine which overspread the Church, and de- 
manded, even before it came, the sweeping hand of the 
Reformation. But more of this in the next two 
chapters. 

Before the days of William (in the time of Edward, 
the Confessor) the Norman Church was already begin- 
ning to lord it over the English Church; for Edward 
had received a Norman education, and had brought 
home with him, when he ascended the throne, both a 
foreign language and foreign notions. He made his 
priories subject to Norman abbeys, and raised his Nor- 
man Chaplains to the dignity of Bishops. 

Then, from one degree of ill to another, went the 
matters of the English Church, until, a favorable op- 
portunity offering itself, owing to the unpleasant rela- 
tions of Heni-y VIII, and the Roman Bishop, the Eng- 
lish Church purified herself, and casting off the evil 
ways to which, in her weaker days, she had been com- 
pelled reluctantly to submit, became that grand Church 
from which, in the course of Providence, we, of the 
Church in America sprang, The Reformed Church 
Catholic of England. 



78 
CHAPTER X. 

STATE OF THE CHURCHES DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE, UP 
TO THE PERIOD OF THE NORMANS. 

It gives a lover of his Church pleasure to know, that, 
up to the period of the Norman invasion, i, e,y for a 
period of a thousand years, she was, in the main, free 
from great doctrinal blemish; and, that, although in this 
or that particular, blemishes were even at that time 
beginning to appear, they only marred, not destroyed, 
her Scriptural character, and her sound position as a 
member of the Church universal. 

At the synod of Cloveshoe, the loving character of 
the British Church as a Mother over her children, ap- 
pears in the provision of that Council that the Creed 
and Lord's prayer should be read, and the Lord's sup- 
per celebrated, in the native tongue of the people ; so 
that the Church, in translating the service, at the 
Reformation, from a dead to a living tongue, ''under- 
standed of the people," was only doing what she had 
done before — giving the congregations their worship in 
their own lanOTao^e. 

Bishop Theodore (A. D. 669) is said to have com- 
posed the first ''Penitential" ever used by the English 
Church; and in this, w^as a distinct recognition of the 
fact, that confession of sin is to be, and can be, made 
to God, and to Him only. 

In regard to monasteries, however much these houses 
came to be abused in later days, we must remember 
that they were almost the only means, in the earlier 
days, in the absence of Churches, of Christianizing the 
rural parts of Britain, the clergy making them their 



71 

homes, and radiating from them as occasion might 
demand. 

As to the doctrine of purgatory, which some errone- 
ously suppose to have been held in an early day by the 
English Church, it is hardly safe to assert that this was 
ever an article of faith with it. Varae notions leaninn; 
that way were, indeed, held by some, but by the less 
informed only, and not by all of them. Even after 
Gregory, of so much influence in Britain, had coun- 
tenanced the doctrine, Bede, a Saxon by birth, but a 
Roman by Churchmanship, could say only this: ''I do 
not dispute against it, for possibly it may be true.'' 
Safe generality ! Churton says that the prayers at the 
Lord's supper were only such as we now have in our 
^'Church militant" prayer, such as may profit the living, 
not the dead. Alcuin, the friend and adviser of Charle- 
magne, for twenty-one years the moulding mind of 
ecclesiastical Europe, repudiates the doctrine. Egbert, 
Bishop of York, could only say; ^ 'He who fasteth for 
the dead, it is a comfort to himself, if it helpeth not the 
dead, — God only knows whether his dead are helped 
by it." So pure was the English Church, up to Nor- 
man times, in this regard. 

In regard to the worship of images, — a habit into 
which, under bad influences, the Church did come to 
fall before the Reformation, — it is beyond all doubt 
whatever true, that the early English Church Avas pure 
as an angel from anything of this kind. Alcuin, the 
scholar and writer who composed, almost at the begin- 
ning of the 9th century, a poAverful book against the 
introduction of this custom, is witness that, in this re- 
spect, the Church was undefiled. 



75 

From the laws passed in Dunstan's time (mentioned 
elsewhere), there is clear evidence of the voice of the 
Church against the celebration of solitary masses for 
the souls of the dead; for one of those laws expressly 
forbids the saying of the Communion service in private, 
except with the sick. 

Says Collier, ''The laity communicated in both 
kinds (bread and wine, both) for about 200 years after 
the Norman conquest, i, ^., A. D. 1266. 

Modes of penance seem to have been carried to ex- 
cess, such as a three years' fast on bread and water; 
and walking to Church barefoot; but these things can 
be easily pardoned in a rude age. Violation of good 
taste is more excusable than that of good doctrine. 

Confession of sin to Grod, in the presence of a cler- 
gyman, appears to have been a practice introduced by 
this time, but in the forms that have come down to us 
no confession to saints is mentioned; prayer to God 
o/iZyismade: and though the Lord's prayer is found 
in all the services of the Church, and is sometimes pre- 
scribed as a discipline or penance, not a syllable is to 
be found of the ''Ave Maria" in all these ten centuries 
of the English Catholic Church. It remained for later 
years to dethrone the King of Kings, and elevate a 
Woman, — "blessed," indeed, "among" (but not above) 
women, — in His stead. 

More, in the next chapter. 



76 
CHAPTER XL 

THE SAME, CONTINUED, 

In regard to transubstantiation,— the Roman Catholic 
view of the Lord's supper,— that the English Church 
did not hold this may be clearly seen from the fact, 
that, when Radbert put this view for the first time into 
definite shape, both the English Church and King Al- 
fred, one of her most intelligent and devout communi- 
cants, repudiated it; and placed John Scotus, who had 
bitterly opposed the views of Radbert, in charge of a 
professorship in the college of Malmsbury. ^^To speak 
softly,'' as says Collier, this looks little as if the Eng- 
lish Church was, as yet, unsound upon this doctrinal 
point. Her views seem to have been then (what they 
are to-day), those of one Bertram, whose treatise was 
of so much assistance in lifting the scales from the eyes 
of Craumer and Ridley, six hundred years afterwards, 
at the Reformation. 

The same may be shown from another source; the 
testimony of Archbishop Elfric. He wrote two vol- 
umes of sermons upon this subject, which abound with 
evidence of the Church's soundness in the faith; for, 
says Collier, ''that these were the doctrine of the then 
Church of England, has never been contested, and is 
sufficiently proved by their public use and reception." 
Had I space I should like to give copious extracts from 
these noble iiscourses. 

During the close of the Saxon period of the Church, 
and for some time previous, the influence of the Roman 
Bishop was greatly on the increase both in matters of 
doctrine and of discipline, — an influence which in- 



77 

creased even in an accelerated degree in times subse= 
quent. But we must remember, (and the object of 
these pages will be but partly gained if we do not,) that 
the English Church was always, — even under this great 
cloud, still the Church of her Master in that realm; 
that, though she came gradually to have evil doctrine 
thrust upon her, and was led into evil ways, she con- 
tinued a Church, even as a sick man, though ill, is still 
a man. Bear with her through those evil times. See, 
if she does not purify herself. Mark, if she does not 
preserve her identity. 

When, in after years, she reformed herself, she did 
not become a new Church, — a se(4t, a splinter chipped off 
from some decayed or decaying stump, — but remained 
the same Church, whose history we have traced down 
the current of Time from the days of the Apostles them- 
selves. Her reformation no more destroyed her iden- 
tity, than the washing of Naaman, the leper, in Jordan, 
destroyed his. He was the same man. She was the 
same Church. 

As to discipline, this, in rude days, was not what it 
should have been. But, at the coming of Theodore, 
(669) everything was regulated in order and governed 
in wisdom. His personal visits to all parts of the 
Church, in order to correct errors, establish uniformity, 
and consult with his clergy, have already been mentioned . 

At the council of Cloveshoe, (before spoken of) 
Bishops were ordered to visit their Dioceses yearly, 
and not to ordain clergy Avithout strict examination into 
their learning and character; Priests were ordered to 
give themselves up to the sole exercise of their minis- 
try, to preach, to baptize with the same rites, to teach 



the elements of religion to the people in their proper 
tongue, and to have solemn music in their Churches; 
and the Laity were ordered to be careful in keeping the 
Lord's day, to live so as to be always ready for the 
reception of the Holy Communion, and to take part in 
the services of the Church with reverent postures and 
devout hearts. 

At the council of Calcuith, the six ''General Coun- 
cils" of the Church Universal were formally acknowl- 
edged (though by the canons of Bishop Elfric only the 
first four — the ''undisputed" ones — were specially com- 
mended) : thus linking the Church back to her historic 
past in a chain which, from Calcuith in 787 to Lam- 
beth in 1867, has never been broken; sponsors are ad- 
monished to be faithful and instruct their godchildren; 
and the clergy are forbidden to allow any foreign priest 
or deacon to officiate without a letter from his Bishop. 

Truly may a writer exclaim; "We can not complain 
that piety or discipline was wanting in the govern- 
ment of the Church" of that period. 

And, once more, let me beg the reader to bear always 
in mind that though the Church was becoming in some 
things, and in others had already become, what all good 
Christians greatly regret, still she never ceased to be a 
Church. She held purely far more than she allowed to 
become impure. Baalam was a bad man, but he did 
not cease to be a prophet. The sons of Eli were evil, 
but they did not cease to be priests. And so the 
Church, though she came to err greatly in time, and 
had to be cleansed of her error at the Reformation, 
never ceased to be what she was before, and what she 
is to-day, The Church Catholic in England. 



CHAPTER XII. 



All that the Roman Church possessed, by way of 
distinction over the other Churches, was greater wealth, 
influence, and honor. As a man may, from strong per= 
sonal character, greater wealth, or superior social 
standing, have greater influence in a community than 
another who does not enjoy these advantages, and be, 
in consequence, greatly honored by those with whom 
he associates, so it was, in the early Christian times, 
with the Chureh of Rome. But, be it ever kept in 
mind, that hers was only primacy of honor, not su- 
premacy of authority. 

An old canon reads: "The Bishop of Constantinople 
shall have the primacy of honor after the Bishop of 
Rome, because it is the new Rome." (A. D. 381.) 

Another says, ''because Rome is the Imperial City,''' 
(A.D. 461.) 

From so small a standing-point, did her arrogant 
claims, which the Reformation, more than a thousand 
years after, had to cast to the ground, commence. 

Another cause of the illegal claims of the Roman 
Church over her sisters. The patriarchs of some of 
the Churches were inclined to oppress those of others. 
The weaker patriarchs naturally applied to Rome for 
aid and protection. This, of course, in time brought 
the weaker patriarchs very much under the power of 
the Roman Bishop. Being under favor to him, they 
easily acquiesced in the extraordinary pretensions 
Avhich he affected for the increase of his influence. 

Again, the patriarchs oppressed the lower Bishops — 



80 

those under them, — and these last, only following the 
example set them by their superiors, now put them- 
selves under the shelter of the Roman Bishop, the only 
Bishop of influence enough, outside of his own jurisdic- 
tion, to compel the observance of justice. 

In time, what was meant as a temporary relief only, 
became a standing measure. Whereas the Roman 
Bishop gave at first only advice, and made friendly sug- 
gestions to the disputants, he now began to speak to 
them in a tone of command. His acts, too, began to be 
looked upon as precedents; and his letters, as rules for 
similar cases as they arose. And we know, that when 
once ambition is aroused in the stronger and depend- 
ence admitted by the weaker, inroads upon the rights 
of others is an inevitable consequence. It was, at any 
rate, in the case before us. 

The Emperors, too, seeing the estimation in which 
the Bishops of Rome were held, feared them as rivals, 
and courted them as allies. They gave them great 
honor, passed such decrees as they asked, and even 
allowed them the use of a portion of the imperial robes, 
the Pall. 

At the first, the Bishop of Rome was Patriarch of 
the City of Rome, ten of the districts of Italy, and the 
three islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica; of these, 
and these only. When Illyria was divided into Eastern 
and Western, he induced Eastern Illyria (which was at 
that time annexed to the Eastern Church) to accept a 
Bishop over itself as hh proxy. By this means, great 
territory was added to his own, and his influence and 
power greatly extended. 

In 417, the Bishop of Aries became, in Gaul, what 



the Bishop of Thessalonica (just spoken ofj did in 
East Illyria, the Roman Bishop's Vicar, and thus still 
greater power was obtained for the Roman Patriarchate. 

In 445, Leo the Great set up still bolder claims than 
any of his predecessors had, and obtained from Valen- 
tinian the Third, a decree making him the Head of the 
whole Western Church, i, ^., to speak in very general 
terms, the Church in Europe. But from that claim, he 
soon ascends to that of Bishop over all the Churches of 
the world. Eastern as w^ell as Western. 

For .n 606, the Emperor Phocas pretended to confer 
upon him the title of ^'Universal Bishop." Bishop 
Gregory refused to wear this title, preferring to be 
called, ''servant of servants," not '^Bishop of Bishops." 
But Boniface III., his successor, did not. He was the 
first Bishop of Rome who assumed the title of ''Pope"* 
as Head of the Church. This was the formal erection 
of the Papacy. 



*In these pages we have carefully styled the Eoman Bishop by 
his proper and Canonical name. He is a Bishop — the Bishop of 
Rome; — the peer of our own Whipple and Whittingham ; no less; 
no more. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

NO RIGHTS ACQUIRED BY THE ROMAN CHURCH OVER THE 
ENGLISH BY VIRTUE OF THE COMING OF AUGUSTINE. 

One ground upon which the Roman Bishop claimed 
jurisdiction over the English Church, after Augustine 
had been sent over to it, was, by virtue of the three 
Imperial decrees already mentioned; that of Constan- 
tino, that of Valentinian, and that of Phocas. But it 
was altogether a false claim. No secular authority can 
pass decrees for the Church, far less the secular author- 
ity of one government, for the Church in another. The 
Church is a religious body, and does not employ Kings 
and Emperors as its officers. Much less does it employ 
Kings of one country to pass laws for the domestic 
affairs of the Church of any other. It has its own 
officers, and its own modes of legislation. These decrees 
were, therefore, of no force whatever in England, nor was 
the independent English Church in any way bound by 
them. They were, to her, the same as if never passed. 

Not even, therefore, when, in 669, the British Church 
had healed its domestic dissensions, and had accepted 
Theodore, as Archbishop of Canterbury, had the Bishop 
of Rome any Patriarchal power or rights in Britain. 

And, that this is so, is virtually admitted by Rome 
itself. For, that the Archbishop of Canterbury was a 
Patriarch, Urban the Second distinctly acknowledged. 
And says Gregory, '^a Patriarch, according to our 
Canons, is Head in his own territory." 

Just as rightfully might the Bishop of Rome claim 
jurisdiction over the Bishops and other clergy of Alex- 
andria, because St. Peter sent St. Mark there, as he 



did over the Bishops and clergy of England, because 
Gregory sent Augustine there ! 

Indeed, there is literally no ground why England should 
ever have been subjected to Rome. Britain was already 
converted when Augustine came. It had its own 
Church, Bishops and other clergy, Church-usages, 
modes of worship, synods and laws. 

The 8th canon of Ephesus forbade a Bishop to act as 
Gregory and his successors did. Council after council 
affirmed this canon, and it was the clear law of the 
Church. The council of Sardicia was in strict accord 
ance with that of Ephesus. It granted leave to other 
Bishops to appeal, if they wished, to the Roman Bishop, 
under certain circumstances; but it gave him no right 
to meddle in the domestic affairs of other Dioceses. 
Each Bishop w^as confined, as much as the Bishops of 
to-day are, to his own territory. 

In the early Church, were five divisions, called Patri- 
archates, Constantinople, Antioch, Rome, Jerusalem 
and Alexandria. For a long time, each patriarch 
obej^ed the law of the Church, and confined his acts to his 
own Diocese. But, in time, jealousy arose. The Patri- 
archs became ambitious of place and honor. Each set 
up rival claims. Jerusalem said she was the eldest. 
Antioch was opulent, and made pretensions on this 
score. Constantinople put on airs because she was the 
'hiew Rome," Constantino having removed his seat of 
empire there. And so, wath the others. 

But Rome was the largest, and the wealthiest, and 
soon succeeded in obtaining the largest shave of power 
in the Christian Church. To illustrate, it was som_e- 
what as a struggle for trade would be between New 



84 

York, Elmira, Buffalo, Rochester and Troy; the first- 
mentioned city would be vastly the most likely to take 
the leading position. 

Mark ; it is true, that Gregory had the right to send 
Augustine to convert the heathen Saxons. And the 
Bishops of Aries and Lyons had the right to consecrate 
him a Bishop. But neither alone, nor altogether, had 
they any right to put him over the Bishops and clergy 
of Britain as their head, and require them to receive him. 

Nor does Augustine appear to have cared to proceed 
according to canon." He did not meet with the British 
Bishops until near his death, eight years after he came, 
and seven after he got himself made Archbishop by a 
foreign authority. When he did meet with them, he 
insists upon uncanonical terms of intercourse, magnifies 
unimportant matters of ceremony, and allows them to 
be a barrier between the Churches. Not so had Poly- 
carp done. He, and a Bishop of Rome, differed, but 
still their disagreement did not interrupt their inter- 
course as brethren and bishops. 

But, even if Augustine had proceeded legally, this 
would have given the Bishop of Rome no patriarchal 
rights in England. He could have no rights after the 
coming of Augustine which he did not have before^ see- 
ing that the Church w^as already organized in England, 
and had its own Head; and that, no act of the English 
Church had ever placed that Church within the Roman 
Patriarchate. 

In other words, all the proceedings during the early 
rule of Rome over England were illegal and wrong, and 
therefore void. No la;pse of time could make right 
what was wrons: in its beginning. And the clergv, who. 



8r^ 

at the Great Refoniiation, cast off the rule of the Papa- 
cy, were only causing, (now that they for the first time 
had the civil arm to sustain them) a rule, unjustly begun 
in the first instance, to cease. 



x\nd so, we have traced the history of the Mother 
Church thus far down the stream of the past. — -British, 
for six hundred years ; then Anglo-Saxon; and then, 
the resultant of these two, the English Church, or the 
Church Catholic in England, she has ever preserved 
her identity untouched. In passing from one stage of 
her existence to another, that identity was never lost. 
She ever perpetuated herself. As foreigners, coming 
to this land, are absorbed into the American nation, so 
were all foreign elements swallowed up in the great 
English Church. After the Roman clergy had come, the 
British clergy soon outnumbered them, and in time ab- 
sorbed them. When, in after days, the Normans dis- 
placed the English clergy and put in those of their own, 
the views of the Church, indeed, imbibed a much greater 
degree of foreign influence, but never enough to cause 
her to cease being the English Church. She was 
vitiated, but not destroyed; impaired, but not ruined. As 
emigration alters the character, but does not obliterate 
the nationality or identity of a people, so the English 
Church changed some features of her character, but did 
not lose her identity. She has ever been, is now, and 
may she ever continue, The Church of GrOD in England. 



[In press :) 

MILIAR \V0RDS 



-Familiar W( 



— ON THE- 



ENGLISH CHURCH, 



— BY — 



REV. R. W. LOWRIE, 

RECTOK OF ST. PAUL's CHURCH, WINONA, MINNESOTA. 



SERIKS III. 
■prom the iS^orinans to l7'8<4.. 

Price, each Seriei, 25 cents; the three, bo«i>d, $1.00; to the 
clergy, or by the half dozen, half price. 



Familiar W 



AMiLiAR Words 



^ON THE- 



ENGLISH CHUECH, 



-BY— - 



REY. R. W. LOWRIE, 



RECTOE OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, WINONA, MINNESOTA. 



SKRrlES III. 



Wroiici tlie IS'ormaiis to l'784^e 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY NORMAN PERIOD OF THE CHURCH. 

[These chapters attempt nothing like completeness of 
treatment. They are intended to be sketches only, to 
be filled up by subsequent perusal of larger works upon 
the subject herein treated of. In this way, it is hoped 
our humble effort may be of some service. And, then, 
many have no access to such works. To these, we 
the more especially address ourself, hoping to be a 
welcome visitor to their hearts and minds. To the 
well-versed even, our chapters may serve as a compend 
to which they may turn, if need be, for reference.] 



In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans. 
In the reign of Alfred, some Normans, under their Sea 
King, had settled in France. The descendants of this 
King, known as Dukes of Normandy, had now exer- 
cised authority over that part of France which they 
had conquered, for more than one hundred and eighty 
years. They had also adopted the language, and for 
the most part, the manners, of the French; and following 
the example of Rollo, their Duke, had, together with a 
large number of their subjects, embraced the religion 
of Christ. 

The Duke of Normandy at the time of which we now 
write, was one William. He was a cousin to Edward the 
Confessor, and some years before, had paid a visit across 
the channel to the Confessor's Court. At the death of 
Edward III. (the ^^ Confessor"), several claimants arose 



89 

for the throne. Edgar Atheling, grandson of Edmund. 
Ironside, and beyond all question the just claimant, 
was ignored by the Saxons, partly no doubt out of fear 
of this very William of whom we now^ more particularly 
write. The next was Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, 
Edward the Confessor's brother-in-law; the next, a 
brother of Harold; and the one destined to be success- 
ful, William, called the Conqueror. The brother of 
Harold was defeated with great slaughter, in the jSTorth; 
and, almost simultaneously with this, the Normans 
under William, landed in the South, gave the party of 
Harold battle at a place called Hastings, defeated the 
Saxons completely, and took possession of the King- 
dom. The foreign Normans were now the masters; and 
the native Saxons, the slaves. It is not, of course, 
within our purpose, to deal further w^ith secular history 
than is necessary to explain our subject proper, and 
hence the above bare outline is all we shall be called 
upon to give just here, of this interesting period of Eng- 
lish history. 

We have, then, before us, what is known as the Nor- 
man era of the English Church — that branch of the 
Church Catholic planted by Apostolic hands in Britain,, 
and continued, though with many varying fortunes, 
from Pauline days to these present. 

William having defeated the English in one battle, at 
first claimed the crown by virtue of an alleged will of 
his cousin Edward; but this ground being disputed, 
soon by right of mere conquest. And one would fancy 
that the rude warrior in his dreams of glory, imagined 
that in conquering the English state, he had also put 
the English Church under his scepter, for he at once 



90 

took high and haughty ground upon the subject of 
ecclesiastical matters. In fact, he allowed nothing to 
stand in the way of his purposes. He punished an 
offender, with the same indifference with which he re- 
warded a favorite. He looked neither to the right hand, 
nor to the left, in the prosecution of any of his 
schemes whether secular or ecclesiastical. He knew 
but one law, that of his own will. He seized and im- 
prisoned his own brother, Odo, Earl of Kent and 
Bishop of Baieux, for wanting to become Bishop of 
Rome against the royal wish* with as little hesitation 
as he demolished several towns and churches at once, 
for the sake of making a fine hunting park. 

Both the State and the Church now became thor- 
oughly Normanized. The Saxons were compelled to 
hold even their own homes by feudal services, either 
military or base. As for the clergy, Normans took 
their places all through the Church. For a whole cen- 
tury, no Saxon was put into any prominent place in the 
Church. The service began to be again said (as it had 
not been for hundreds of years), in Latin, and became 
to the people only a mummery and a farce. The Nor- 
man Bishops and Priests were rude and warlike, often 
serving in the field sword in hand, or in the remote 
parts of the Kingdom, as civil officers. Odo, for in- 
stance, was at once Bishop and warrior; and Flambard^ 
at once Bishop and politician. 

Several things took place in William the First's 
reign, relating to the Church, that deserve notice. One 
was, the refusal of William to ''do homage" to the 
Bishop of Rome for his Kingdom. Having been favored 
in his pretensions to the English throne by the Bishop 



^ 



91 

of Rome, by having his banners consecrated by him^ 
and in other ways, William had either directly or indi* 
rectly promised to favor that Bishop in his pretensions 
over the English Church. But he failed to keep his 
promises, for he now at once rejected the Bishop of 
Rome's demand that he should do him homage for his 
crown, saying that he owed his Kingdom only to God 
and his own svN^ord ! 

Another was, the reception in England of a Roman 
Legate — the first time such a thing had ever happened, 
for although in 787, two Bishops appeared in that ca- 
pacity, they were not received by the Church. The 
reason for sending this legate, was that Stigand, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, had been suspended upon the 
ground that he had been appointed Avhile his predeces- 
sor, Robert, Vfas still alive, and by a Bishop not law- 
fully elected. Stigand was after his removal impris- 
oned, and remained in prison up to his death. 

Another was, the separation of the civil and the 
ecclesiastical courts, so that now Church matters should 
be tried by Church courts. 

Another was, the restitution to the Churches and 
other religious institutions, of the lands and other 
property, of which, during the time of war, they had 
been violently deprived. 

Another matter of moment was, the introduction of 
a new service-book. The prayer-book of Gregory, 
translated into Saxon, had been used in England several 
centuries, and the people and clergy had all become 
attached to it, and now relinquished it very reluctantly. 
Several persons are said to have died in* their refusal to 
give it up, being shot by the Normans. The book 



92 

proposed was drawn up in Latin by William of Fes- 
camp, a Norman monk. Thurstan, he who had ordered 
the Saxons to relinquish their Book for this, was, how- 
ever, soon removed, and Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury, 
compiled another. This was also in Latin, and was 
used in nearly all the Churches of Scotland, Wales, 
Ireland and England, until translated, and otherwise 
altered and improved, by the Reformers in the 16th 
century. Before this Salisbury (or Sarum) book, there 
had been almost as many kinds of Prayer Bopks as 
Dioceses. 



CHAPTER II, 

THE ENGLISH CHURCH AT LAST SUBJECTED TO THE 
ROMAN IN THE ELEVENTH CEMTURY. 

We have now reached the reign of William II. A. D. 
1087. 

For several years of this reign, no Bishop 
of Rome was acknowledged in all England in his 
pretended papal character. A great contest was 
going on for the papal chair, one Odo claiming it under 
the name of Urban II. ; and one Guibert, under that of 
Clement III. While this schism was going on in the Ro- 
man Church, the English Church managed her own af- 
fairs, and did not recognize either of the disputants; so, 
even in her Pope-ridden times, she had a spell of relief 
now and then... 

To illustrate the degree to which the English Church 
was a prey to the Normans; William Rufus, in order to 



93 

enable his brother, Robert, duke of Normandy, to fur- 
nish his part of the first crusade, rented his duchy from 
him for three years; and to raise the amount, taxed the 
English, and sold the ornaments of the Churches, strip- 
ping off the gold and even the silver from the parish 
Bibles. 

And now a new power comes, about this time, into 
the hands of the Bishop of Rome; greatly to the damage 
of the English Church. 

Up to the days of Gregory VII., Bishops-elect were 
accustomed to ''do homage" to the King, and from the 
King received the ''ring and staff," in token of being 
invested with their full ofiice. Gregory prohibited the 
latter, and when Urban 11. became Bishop of Rome lie 
prohibited the former also. A long contest took place 
in England over this, but it finally ended in the Bish- 
ops doing homage to the King for the "temporalities," 
but receiving the ring and staff from the Bishop of 
Rome for the "spiritualities," and thus a new footing 
was obtained by Rome in the English Church; and a 
ver}^ strong one it was, since it gave the appointment of 
English Bishops virtually into the hands of the Bishop 
of Rome, for he could give the staff and ring, or with- 
hold them as he pleased; and no Bishop could exercise 
his office without them; they were a part of the essen- 
tial forms. 

This was something that injustice having done, 
justice had to undo at the Reformation. From as 
early as 694, the law of the land had been: "when a 
Bishop dies, let the Archbishop be notified, and a wor- 
thy person chosen with his advice and consent." At 
one time, the other Bishops of the province elected a 



94 

successor in the vacant see; at another, the chapter; 
and sometimes, Monarchs arrogated, and through their 
patronage even exercised, the right of doing so; but 
properly it was the right of the Church herself to elect 
to a vacancy. The Keformation, therefore, only re- 
stored to the Church her native rights. 

A legate extraordinary was now sent to England by 
the Bishop of Rome. Here was a still bolder step on 
the part of that Bishop. A legate had, indeed, been 
sent during the suspension of an Archbishop, as before 
remarked; but never before when the Archbishop was 
in full and free discharge of his duties. But more of 
this, in a short time. Suffice it to say here, that this 
legate was not allowed to exercise his office in the Eng- 
lish Church, showing how that Church was still bold 
enough to stand upon its ancient rights, in face even of 
the Roman Bishop, and all his power and influence. 
Legate after legate was treated in this way; and prop- 
erly, for they were unheard-of agents of a foreign 
Bishop, and the Church was right in refusing to brook 
their interference. On one occasion, an Archbishop of 
Canterbury even went in person to Rome to protest 
against this injustice to the English Church. 

Up to this time, the Bishop of Rome had had no 
^'jurisdiction" in England, Though Gregory had sent 
Augustine there; and the Bishops of Rome had conse- 
crated Archbishops for it; and legates had been sent 
over to it; and Anselm had secured to Rome the power 
of investing Bishops-elect with 'Hhe ring and staff," the 
Bishop of Rome had never had bestowed upon him — 
even pretendedlj^, the right of appointing all Bishops 
and. of making^ the laws of the English Church. This, 



95 

it remained for one William of Corboil to pretend to 
confer upon him. 

One Honorius was then Bishop of Rome, and he 
made William of Corboil, his 'Sdcar," . who agreed 
to hold all his power independently of the English 
Church, and to do all he should do in England, as his 
deputy and slave. Thus went the last vestige of the 
liberties of the English Church: liberties that were not 
recovered till the days of the Reformation. 

Theobald, the successor of William in the see of Can- 
terbury, got back, by the payment of a great sum, some 
of the ancient rights of the Church, but for all that, the 
Roman Bishops would often send their legates into 
England, to override the Bishops, hold councils, and 
pass laws against the voice of all the regular authorities 
of the Church. 

One of the great causes of the growth of the papal 
power in England was the people's ovrn views of the 
papal authority. Thej^ hardly dared to resist the en- 
croachments of a Bishop, whom they had taught them- 
selves to a good deal more than half believe the actual 
successor of St. Peter, and entitled by ^'Divine right'' 
to lord it over them; and if they did for a while resist^ 
these views at the last always landed them under the 
papal j^oke. 

But I would have the reader never forget that the 
Church in all these centuries of the o;radual o-rowth of 
the Bishop ot Rome's power, was still the Catholic 
Church of England, and not lawfully the Roman Church. 
An unjust usurpation of authority over her did not de- 
stroy her rights, or her existence as a Church; it only 
prevented her from exercising those rights; as a man. 



96 

forcibly kept out of his property, is no less the rightful 
owner, all the time he is deprived of it by superior 
force. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CHURCH IN THE REIGNS OF STEPHEN AND HENRY II. 

Under King Stephen, who now succeeded Henry I., 
the poor English Church fared worse, if possible, than 
ever. He seems to have violated all the pledges made 
upon coming to the throne; and only seems to have 
made them, in order to secure the support of the clergy 
to his usurpation of the crown. Such conduct on the 
part of English monarchs did a great deal to build up the 
Bishop of Rome's power; for he Avas, in the general 
strife and evil-doino; amonii; Kino;s, often- almost the 
only protection for the weak, and almost the only friend 
of the injured. Subjects oppressed by their Kings thus 
frequently turned to this Bishop and hailed his inter- 
ference, even in matters in which he had no just con- 
cern, with delififht and o-ratitude. 

Under King Henry II., the successor of Stephen, 
some events took place which must now be mentioned. 
The Saxon Kings had always summoned a kind of par- 
liament, in which both Church and State were fairly 
represented. No act of importance could be done by 
the King, without the consent of this body. William 
the Conqueror had almost destroyed at once the free- 
dom and the utility of this assembly, by summoning 
only his favorites to it; and by taking away from it, 



97 

and giving to his personal retinue, all the power it had 
hitherto exercised, as a court of justice. He next ex- 
cluded the Bishops from sitting with the sheriffs in the 
county courts, and made them try their clergy in courts 
uf their own; in which almost the only punishment was 
penance, or, at most, degradation. 

A great many persons now came to enter the lower 
orders of the ministry, only to escape the punishment 
of their deeds at the hands of the county courts. If 
they could only get into one of the low orders of the 
clergy (say, that of ''subdeacon," or ^'reader,") and 
should commit theft, they could not be tried in the 
secular courts, and branded, or maimed, in punishment; 
but must be tried in the Church courts, and would get 
off with 40 days penance ! 

Henry II., to stop this, now demanded that any cler- 
gyman guilty of crime, should be put out of the minis- 
try, and tried by the regular civil courts. 

Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, differing from the 
Kino; about the rio-ht of this matter, and still more 
about the Constitutions of Clarendon, (some laws passed 
at that place, but soon repealed; wherein the Arch- 
bishop thought the Church was encroached upon hj the 
King,) the former was, after six years banishment, a 
reconciliation, and a new misunderstanding, found mur- 
dered in cold blood, upon the steps of the altar. 

The King disclaimed any agency in the death of this 
Bishop, and in order to save himself from the censures 
of the Bishop of Rome, gave back the temporal rights 
of Canterbury which during his quarrel with Becket, 
he had unjustly appropriated; and more than that, con- 
firmed in the Bishop of Rome, the power \s\\\q\\ that 



98 

Bishop had no^Y come to claim, that of hearing appeals 
from ecclesiastical causes tried in England. As if the 
Bishop of Rome had any right to meddle in what we 
may call the domestic Church matters of a Church by 
right free and independent ! • 

Thus the Roman Bishop fastened, at every opportu- 
nity, hi^ hold upon the quivering flesh of the English 
Church; the monarchs of the country either furnishing 
a pretext, or, out of weakness, timidity or wickedness, 
basely surrendering the rights of the Church, to ad- 
vance their own personal interests, or to protect them- 
selves from the consequences of their own acts. It was 
easier to buy oiF the displeasure of the Bishop of Rome, 
than to contend against it; and the easiest of all ways 
to buy it oiF, was to give over to him some of the 
gradually lessening liberties and privileges of the 
Church. The weaker the prince, the greater and more 
frequent the surrender. While Edward I, surrendered 
but little, Henry III. surrendered a great deal. While 
Henry VII. gave up but little, Henry IV. gave up 
much. Alfred resorted to no such expedient; Richard 
I., did. William I. had no dread at all of ^^His Holi- 
ness," while poor John gave up even his crown at his 
bidding, and humbly took it back as his vassal. 



99 
CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHURCH IN THE REIGN OF KING JOHN. 

From the time of Hilclebrand, z. ^., Gregory VII. , 
the papal power had been on the steady increase, both 
in spiritual and in temporal matters. It now reached 
the pinnacle of its glory in England. 

John, Kino; at the beo-innino- of the thirteenth centii- 
ry, was in the midst of a grave quarrel with the Bishop 
of Rome. That Bishop had hot allowed the English 
Bishops to exercise their rights in the election of an 
Archbishop of Canterbury, but had set aside the per- 
son elected, and had sent one Stephen Langton in his 
place. 

John positively refused to allow Langton to be re- 
ceived; and wrote His Holiness a very severe letter 
upon the subject, telling him that, hereafter, he need 
not trouble himself about the English Church, since it 
had Bishops at home both wise and numerous enough 
to govern it. 

The Bishop of Rome then tried, in turn, persuasion, 
threats, and bribes; but, to them all, John for a while 
refused to listen. Three prominent Norman Bishops 
waited upon him, to move him, if possible; but he drove 
them from his presence, and threatened to slit the ear& 
and noses of every Romanist in his Kingdom and pack 
them off to Rome. 

But soon the Kingdom being put under what was 
called ^'an interdict," the weak King gave way. This 
was an order from the Bishop of Rome to deprive the 
entire nation of the benefits of public worship, and 
all the rights of the Church, except the baptism of 



100 



children, and the confession and Holy Communion of 
such as were dying. Rome had tools enough in the 
English Church to carry out this base order. Says 
Southey: ''no bell was heard, no taper lighted, no ser- 
vice performed, no church open," for six long years and 
more. And this for protecting the native and inaliena- 
ble rights of the national Church ! 

The quarrel waxing fiercer, the Bishop of Rome pro- 
ceeded to ''excommunicate" the King. And here I 
give the form of doing this: "In the name of God, (fee, 
we excommunicate, denounce and curse (them), and 
shut them out of the doors of the Holy Mother, the 
Church, that those whom we have declared accursed, 
maybe accursed without and within; that they may 
have no society among Christians. Let them be ac- 
cursed walking; sitting; standing; eating; drinking; 
waking and sleeping. Let them be accursed at homo 
and abroad; in the fields and in the woods; upon land 
and sea. Let them be accursed in every member; from 
the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, let there 
be no whole part in them. Let their part be with Da- 
than and Abiram; with Nero; with Simon Magus; and 
with Judas the betrayer of the Lord; if they repent not 
and reform. And as these candles are extinguished, so 
let their souls be extinguished in hell. So let it be. 
So let it be. So let it be. Amen." Christian con- 
duct of a Christian Bishop ! 

John, in return for this, now retaliated by seizing 
the revenues of those Bishops who acknowledged Lang- 
ton. The Bishop of Rome replied to this, by releasing 
all the people of England from their oaths of allegiance 
to King John. This high-hand measure was in accord- 



101 

ance with the papal assumption that any oath against 
the interests of the Church, is not only not binding, 
but a perjury. 

His Holiness next wrote riving John's crown to 
Philip, King of France. This brought John to terms; 
upon which the Bishop of Rome was now as much his 
friend as he had before been his foe, and aided him 
against the very monarch upon Avhom he had but just 
''bestowed" the English crown; — being thus, in a 
twelvemonth, first friend and then foe of two countries, 
and bestowing the same crown upon each of two ene- 
mies. Christian consistency of a Christian Bishop ! 

The restoration of the crown to King John took 
place just before Ascension day, 1213. Two Knights 
Templar had landed at Dover; obtained an interview 
with the King, and induced him to submit to an agree- 
ment with the Bishop of Rome's nuncio. Many mo- 
tives swayed this proud prince to unbend thus much. 
In the first place, Philip the fair, of France, lay at the 
mouth of the Seine, with an army which he had raised 
at the cost, as he, in remonstrance, told His Holiness 
when asked to disband it, and give up his meditated 
attack upon England, of more than fifteen score thou- 
sand dollars. In the next, even though he should take 
the field with the English, he was far from sure that 
they would not desert him in a body. Indeed, rumor 
said that the nobility had, under hand and seal, given 
in their allegiance, in advance, to Philip ! Again, the 
fact that His Holiness had, by his nuncio, both released 
all the English sulojects from their oaths of allegiance, 
and removed the crown from his head, was enough, in 
those superstitious days, to hold back a Prince from 



102 

trusting to his troops, most, or all, of whom, looked with 
a reverence, amounting to an insanity, upon the so- 
called successor of St. Peter. And again; for now five 
years, John had lain under the curse of excommunica- 
tion — a grievous thing, in those days, even to con- 
sciences not the most tender; and he now trembled 
beneath the peals of its thunder, which, though mock, 
reverberated none the less loudly, among the peaks and 
crags of his rude notions of religion and Church au- 
thority. 

And adding, in that ignorant age, beyond a doubt, 
somewhat to the general effect of all these things, a mad 
hermit was a prisoner in the palace for prophesying, 
that, by Ascension-tide, England would have a crown- 
less King upon the throne. Moved by these influences, 
John agreed to bend the knee, and receive, as a slave, 
that crown which was his as a prince; and sixteen 
barons and earls pledged themselves as his security. 

And now, the set time of the conference has come. 
King John, the Bishop of Rome's Nuncio, and a gay 
throng of earls and barons, meet at Dover. The letters 
patent are presented; signed by the King, and sealed 
with the royal signet. By these he swears to submit 
to whatever the nuncio may see fit to lay upon him, 
for the removal of his excommunication; to restore 
Langton to the see of Canterbury; and all other ban- 
ished Bishops, to their places; and to reverse all out- 
lawries, pay all damages, restore all property, and 
make good all other alleged wrongs growing out of the 
recent quarrel. Thus far, the first meeting at Dover. 
It had been previously arranged at Rome, that he should, 
in person, remove his crown, and take it back at the 



103 

hands of the nuncio. For this, a second meeting was 
appointed for the day after the next. 

This day was Ascension-eve« The company met at 
Templars^ House, near Dover. At the feet of the nun- 
cio. King John resigned his crown of England and Ire- 
land; by formal instrument, witnessed by the Archbish- 
op of Dublin^ the Bishop of Norwich, eight ea^rls and 
three barons, agreeing to take it back, as the slave of 
the Bishop of Rome. When he paid to Pandulph a part of 
the thousand marks, which was to be his yearly tribute to 
the Bishop of Rome as his vassal, the nuncio trampled 
it under foot. John then took the usual oath of hom- 
age, the same as his humblest subjects were accustomed 
to take to him I After a period of five days' haughty 
retention of the crown, it was restored to the head of 
this cowardly King, who had sold the liberties of the 
Church for his own ends, and who now placed the key- 
stone in the arch of the Papal power in the realm 
of End and. 



CHAPTER V. 

iXFLUEXCE OF THE LAITY, — RESISTANCE TO PAPAL POW- 
ER. — DOCTRINAL, AND OTHER ERRORS. 

The laity of the Church now>, with the clergy^ proved 
the Church's salration. The barons had wrested from 
John at Runtiyrnede^ what are called the Magna Charta 
and the Forest Charter, By these documents, the an- 
cient liberties and privileges of both church and state, 
were somewhat guaranteed. Henry III. ratified these 



104 

acts, and though both the Archbishop who led on the 
barons, and the barons themselves, were excommuni- 
cated by his Holiness, the acts were never repealed, 
and to this day stand the bulwark of both civil and 
ecclesiastical freedom, and among the first public and 
concerted acts of the Catholic Church of England as 
protestant against the Roman Catholic character, 
which had been fastened upon her by studied and long- 
continued encroachments. By these acts, neither King 
nor ''Pope" was, henceforth and forever, to have any 
control over her domestic polity. Even the consent 
which the King was to give to an election of a Bishop, 
''was purely nominal; for even if he should refuse it, the 
clergy might proceed notwithstanding. And, to show 
how His Holiness's power was struck at by these lait}^ 
it is sufficient to mention, that he at once, as before 
said, excommunicated the whole company of them and 
placed them with ''Nero, Simon Magus and Judas 
Iscariot." 

Another blow struck, by the laity of the Church, was 
an order issued in the reign of John's successor, to 
seize all legates, or other persons, coming into England 
with bulls, mandates or insolences of any kind from the 
Bishop of Rome. 

They also sent a protest to that Bishop, saying that 
they would endure him no longer. Thus, for three 
hundred years before the Reformation, the Church 
Catholic of England, became ^'Protestant,'' 

One great cause of the increase of papal poAver in 
England was the number of religious orders that ex- 
isted. These, contrary to the laws of the Church, 
were free from all regular control; and being responsi- 



105 

ble only to the Bishop of Rome, thus became his wil- 
ling tools on all occasions. 

Another evil that had been growing for a long time, 
was the giving of dispensations from the laws of the 
Church. For money, or other consideration, a Bishop- 
elect could have remained unconsecrated for years; one 
person could hold several posts; children even could be 
nominated to vacant places ! 

Indulgencies, too, began to be sold. By the Church 
laws, long penances used to be inflicted for sins; these 
indulgencies permitted any one, rich enough, to buy 
himself off with a shorter time. Indeed, if a man could 
get others to divide his time of penance between them- 
selves, he could undergo the discipline of the Church, 
in this convenient way, by proxy ! 

The crusades w^ere another convenient w*ay of avoid- 
ing the discipline of the Church. To go upon one of 
these, was considered equal to a great many years of 
penance. To say the Psalter twenty times with scourg- 
ing, was equal to a hundred years of penance; thus, 
one could conveniently accomplish a century before 
breakfast I 

Outside of England, the history of the three centuries 
after John, is little else than wars and contentions be- 
tween popes and Kings; crusades; taxes; and evil of all 
sorts. 'Tope" was set up against ''Pope;" and Satan 
himself seemed loose upon the earth. 

In regard to doctrinal and other corruptions, these 
greatly increased from the time of Innocent III., and 
one great cause of this was that the people had no 
longer the Scriptures in their native tongue. The 
Romish council of Toulouse had ordered that the Bible 



fe 



106 

should not be translated. Before the Reformation, a 
Bible cost $1500; the price of a working man's wages 
for fifteen years ! Of course, this exclusion of the 
Scriptures tended to increase the evils spoken of, by 
preventing men and women from being able to compare 
the doctrines taught by their clergy, with those incul- 
cated by Scripture. 

Prayers to the Virgin Mary, and to saints, had now 
become common; and a distinct service for the former 
had come into general use, and the poor untaught peo- 
ple prayed to her ten times where they did to the Lord 
once. For every one hundred and fifty "Ave Marias^'^ 
they said only fifteen "Pater nosters,'' Oh I Rome; 
oh, Rome I 

Prostration before the elements of the Lord's Supper, 
was now a prescribed part of Avorship. Images were 
openly worshiped. The wine of the Holy Communion 
was taken away from the people. Forged Church laws 
were collected and enforced. The study of Scripture 
was ignored or neglected. In fine, a ^^Reformation" 
of the Church was strictly needed. In time, in came« 
Henry VIII. did not cause it. It had been preparing 
since King John, The train was already laid, Henry 
but applied the match to the powder already in the train, 
Edward II., remonstrating with his Holiness; Edward 
III., refusing to '^do homage" for his crown, were only 
precursors of Henry VIIL banishing the Bishop of 
Rome forever from his usurped place over the English 
Church. 

Robert Greathead, WickliiFe and others, deserve a 
separate chapter; and one shall, therefore, be devoted 
to them. 



lOT 
CHAPTER VI. 

REFORMATION BEGUN ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS 
BEFORE HENRY VIII. 

As WickliiFe was, in one sense, the forerunner of the 
Reformation, the John Baptist of a purer doctrine, so 
were Dunstan, Pottock, Foliat, Greathead, Bradwar- 
dine, and Fitzralph, forerunners of him. 

In 961, Dunstan defied the Bishop of Rome, denying 
that he could make an unlawful act lawful by his own will. 

Pottock, Archbishop for twenty-seven years, publicly 
and fearlessly challenged the Romish doctrine of Tran- 
substantiation, 

Foliat, Bishop of Hereford, in 1148, defied the Bishop 
of Rome; laughed at the thunders of the Vatican; and, 
though twice excommunicated, disregarded it altogether. 

Greathead, Bishop of Lincoln, from 1234 to 1258, 
in person protested against the corruptions of the papal 
see; refused to nominate the infant nephew of the 
Bishop of Rome to a Cathedral appointment; and 
though excommunicated, died in the quiet possession 
of his bishopric. 

Bradwardine, chaplain to Edward III., and after- 
wards Archbishop of Canterbury in 1349, preached 
fearlessly the pure doctrine of the Church. 

Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1347, attacked 
the conduct of the begging friars; was summoned to 
Rome; and endured great hardships for the cause of 
the truth, and the principles sacred to his heart. 
. ^'And what shall I more say ? for the time would 
fail me to telF' of all, of whom those evil days were 
not worthy. 



108 

Of Wickliffe, I must speak now at large. Born in 
1324, at a small village in Yorkshire, lie was sent, at 
sixteen years of age, to Oxford. When about thiity- 
two, he wrote his first book; or, rather, tract, called the 
''Last Age of the Church." In about four years after 
that, he commenced a just and severe exposition of the 
evil behaviour of the Mendicant Orders. These orders 
had become almost beyond endurance by the Church. 
The Dominicians, or black-friars, so called from the 
color of their habit, came into existence in 1215, through 
one Dominic, a Spaniard; the Franciscans, or grey 
friars in 1223; and the Carmelites, or white friars, had 
in 1226, been brought into the West by Honorius III., 
Bishop of Rome. 

Though the rule of these orders Avas absolute pov- 
erty, they soon came to possess great estates. Being 
responsible to no Bishop, or other ecclesiastical au- 
thority in England, but only to the Bishop of Rome, 
they did in all things as they pleased; invaded the 
Churches; ''confessed" the people; absolved Avithout 
regard, or inquiry; and, being almost always stragglers 
from place to place, greatly injured the discipline of the 
Church, by their loose and irregular acts. A great 
many people soon came to prefer to confess to a Domin- 
ican or Franciscan; for, in that way, they escaped the 
mortification of opening their sins to their own 
Parish Priest. To confess before one whom they had 
never seen before, and were not likely to see again, 
being much easier, soon became popular; and these 
vagabond beggars were in great demand. 

These friars made it a point, too, to attend the beds 
of the sick and dying, and to induce them to favor their 



109 

order by bequests in their wills; holding out to the 
consciences of such, the promise that fault of life could 
be greatly atoned for by liberality at death. 

To such a degree, had the evils of these orders gone, 
that in 1215, Innocent III. prohibited the introduction 
of any new orders; and, the orders increasing notAvith- 
standing this, the council of Toulouse, in 1272, reduced 
the number of orders to four. 

But, in the time of Wickliffe, the evils of the system 
eeem to have returned with great force; and received 
severe condemnation from his vigorous and caustic pen. 
At about thirty-two, he was made head of Canterbury 
Hall, Oxford, but Archbishop Langham denying the 
validity of the choice, Wickliffe appealed to Urban V., 
who, of course, upheld the Archbishop; for the Arch- 
1)isliop Avas the tool of the friars, and the friars were the 
tools of Urban I 

About ten years after that, the Bishop of Rome de- 
manding the thousand marks by Avliich he claimed that 
the successors of John held the Kingdom, Wickliffe 
boldly endeavored to dissuade Parliament from paying 
a penny of the sum, alleging in fearless terms, that it 
was a gross injustice to both the Church aiid the people. 

At fortv-eio-ht, he took the deo;ree of Doctor of The- 
ology, and denounced the errors and dangers of Roman- 
ism in his learned disputations. 

Two years, later, such was his reputation, that he 
was dispatched, in the capacity of commissioner, on the 
part of the King, to meet the nuncios of the Bishop of 
Rome, upon the subject of the liberty of the English 
Church; and did good service towaras reducing the 
power of that Bishop over the Church of his native land. 



110 

He bitterly opposed the doctrine of transubstantiation^ 
and disproved it out of Holy Writ. He was brought^ 
for his boldness and his doctrines, before the authori- 
ties, but escaped without punishment, and died in 1384, 
aged sixty. Wickliffe is said to have entertained views 
w^hich the Church Catholic does not endorse; but, in 
his defiance of some of the crying evils of the Roman- 
ism of that day, he deserves to be ranked high, as one 
of the early Reformers of the English Church. 

The great act of WicklifFe's life was the translation 
of the Scriptures into English. One Egbert had made 
a translation of the four gospels; Aldhelm and Alfred, 
of the Psalms; and Bede of all the Bible, into Saxon; 
but the English language had entirely changed since 
then, and Saxon was almost as much a dead language 
as Latin. Wickliffe now raised the Scriptures from the 
grave of these dead tongues into the life and light of 
the people's speech, thus paving the way for his suc- 
cessors in the work of reformation. 

Thus the Endish Church began her Reformation a 
century and a half before Henry V III, How thoroughly 
reformed she must be ! 



Ill 

CHAPTER VII. 

SYNOPSIS OF CERTAIX FACTS. 

In 596j the British Church was free. In that year 
Augustine came, and began his attempts to subject it. 
Up to the Norman conquest, in 1066, not very much 
advance had been made towards the subjection of the 
Church. She was, in the main, still pure in doctrine, 
and free in her domestic concerns. But at that time, 
William I. allowed and assisted the Bishop of Rome to 
acquire greater power over it. In succeeding reigns, 
this was still more greatly increased. Titles to the 
throne were sometimes poor, and the English Kings 
thought to make them good by allowing the encroach- 
ments of the powerful Roman Bishop, thus converting 
him into a desirable ally to their cause. Soon, the 
Bishop of Rome succeeded in getting all the clergy 
exempt from the control of the civil power; and next, 
obtained the privilege of having ecclesiastical cases 
sent over to Rome to be tried before him on appeal. 
And in numerous other ways, his hands were gradually 
strengthened in England. Finally, he had the English 
crown itself surrendered into his hands. The religious 
orders of monks also greatly assisted him in his schemes; 
carrying out his exactions with a zeal and fidelity wor- 
thy of a better cause. 

But, now, in the reign of Edward I., certain laws 
were passed which paved the way for the eventual over- 
throw of the Roman power over the Island- Church. 

They were singularly necessary. For during the pre- 
vious reign, that of Henry III., Papal power was 
never more unblushing. Warned by the fate of John, 



112 

Henry tamely submitted to any degradation, though 
the English clergy remonstrated, and even appealed 
from the Roman Bishop to a General Oouncil. 

In a former chapter, an account was given of the 
manner in which the encroachments of the Bishop of 
Rome were resisted as early as the year 680. This 
resistance never ceased on the part of the English 
Church, until, in the time of Henry VIII., it finally 
triumphed, in the overthrow of the Papacy in the 
Island. Indeed, it may be said to have commenced, 
as early as 601, at the meeting of the brave British 
Bishops and Augustine. 

But, to return to the times of the Edwards, I sum up 
briefly the more important laws of which I have spoken. 
In the reign of Edward I., it was forbidden to trans- 
port any more ecclesiastical property out of England, 
to Rome. The English Bishops were prohibited from 
attending a General Council, unless they should prom- 
ise not to receive the papal blessing. All clergy guilty 
of a felony were made responsible to the criminal 
courts, instead of, as heretofore, being amenable only 
to the Bishops appointed by Rome, No ecclesiastical 
lands could be transferred without the royal consent. 
Certain monies were required to be now paid to the 
King, instead of to the Roman Bishop. Heads of for- 
eim reli<i!;ious orders were no lono^er allowed to tax 
their dependent houses in England. 

In the reign of Edward II., all sentences of excom- 
munication pronounced by the Bishop of Rome against 
the King that in any way aiFected his liberty or safety, 
were declared not worth the paper on which they were 
written. This Avas a deadly blow at the Papal en- 



113 

croacliments; for, by bulls and otherwise, the Roman 
Bishop had long held a rod over English heads, and, 
by pretending to excommunicate the King, had often 
more greatly controlled the people than the King him- 
self. This was now, in a great measure, at an end. 

In the reign of Edw^ard III., other steps Avere taken, 
Avhich must be noticed. It was fuond that some of the 
laws of Edw^ard I. were cunningly evaded, by the 
Bishop of Rome. More stringent ones were now passed, 
to make this impossible. They extended through the 
wdiole reign of Ed^vard III. ; and when Richard II. came 
to the throne, these being found still insufficient, others 
w^ere enacted. 

During the reign of Henry IV., it was found neces- 
sary to pass law^s against the purchase of exemptions 
from Rome. During Henry V., foreigners were re- 
stricted in holding Church places in England. 

During the four Kings, who, in turn, succeeded to 
the throne, so great were the domestic dissensions of 
England, that these wdse laws fell practically into dis- 
use. Former claims were now^ reasserted by Rome. 
Old abuses returned. And when Henry VIII. mounted 
the throne (1509) Papal power w^as nearly as great as 
ever in England. From 1272, to 1422, it had been on 
the ebb; from 1422, to 1530, the tide returned. 

At that time, very stringent laws were passed; and 
shortly after, others. Soon all the former laws against 
the usurpations of the Roman Bishops were re-enacted 
and enlarged, and not only that, but, this time, enforced 
Avith a will and energy that completely broke the Papal 
power in the realm, and over the Church, of England. 

Thus for nearly a thousand years, i. e.^ from 601 to 



114 

the Reformation, the English Church did not cease to 
lift up a voice against the usurpations of Rome; and 
then ceased because there ceased to be occasion for it. 
I give this summary because ignorant persons some- 
times assert that the rule of the Bishop of Rome was 
cheerfully, and as of right, submitted to by the English 
Church, and onlv thrown off to suit the purposes of 
Henry VIII. ^ 

On the contrary, for nearly one thousand years, the 
Church never ceased to protest against it. 

And, once more, I would beg the careful reader to 
keep in mind, that the Church never was under the lawful 
authority of the Bishop of Rome. His jurisdiction was 
Rome, a part of Italy and three Islands. And his 
claims in England not being righteous at the first, could 
never become so, and did never, by mere lapse of time. 
He was never Patriarch of England, unless it were by 
brevet ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 

IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. 

Of these, it is impossible for our unpretending work, 
to recite all. Let us begin with the financial cause. 
The people had become tired of the pecuniary exactions 
of the Roman Bishop. An immense part of the wealth 
of England was, by bulls, subsidies, annats, appeals, 
and dispensations, drained off to Rome, A people will 
endure up to a certain point, but at that, forbearance 
ceases to be, in the popular judgment, the most cardi- 
nal of virtues. 



115 

The Scriptures, too, being now translated, enlight- 
ened men's minds to the falsity of Papal claims. 

Another cause of the decrease of the Bishop of 
Rome's poAver, was the removal of that Bishop, from 
Rome to Avignon. One great source — perhaps the 
greatest — of the original prominence of the Roman 
Bishop was that he was the Roman Bishop; the Bishop 
in 'Hhe Imperial City." Historic and classic associa-= 
tions continued to linger about this city, long after her 
rival, Constantinople, rose in the East; and even long 
after she herself had ceased to be of any political influ- 
ence among the nations. The name Rome alone added 
greater weight to the papal bull than the leaden seals of 
St. Peter and St. Paul, The pall was received with 
less pleasure, because it had been laid upon the tomb of 
St. Peter, than because it had emanated from the city 
of that magic name, Rome. 

"When now, bulls and mandates, indulgencies and 
dispensations were no longer dated Rovie, but only 
Avignon^ they lost, to the popular mind, half their im- 
press! veness and authoritative tone, And for seventy 
years this was so; and three=quarters of a century can 
do a good deal towards educating a people out of an 
idea ! 

Another thing that set m^en thinking about the gross . 
injustice of the Bishop of Rome's pretensions, both in 
England and elsewhere, was the schisms that now took 
place in the Roman Church, 

When Pascal II. died, the cardinals elected Gelasius 
II. as Bishop of Rome; and Henry V., Emperor of the 
Romans, appointed Gregory VIII. This began the 
schism of the 12th century. Part of the Church obeyed 



116 

one of these rivals; and part, the other. Bishop after 
Bishop was elected by the factions; Alexander was set 
up against Victor, and Victor upheld against Alexan- 
der; Innocent against Anancletus and Anancletus 
against Innocent; and the spectacle of two ''Infallible" 
successors of St. Peter was presented to the world. 
One Infallible contradicting the other Infallible ! 

The spectacle was again repeated at the end of the 
fourteenth century. At the death of Gregory XI., two 
''Popes" were elected by the very same cardinals. One 
"Pope" now resided at Rome; and the other at Avig- 
non, in France. Boniface w^as against Benedict; and 
Benedict against Boniface. After several deaths and 
several new elections, it was agreed that the two rivals 
should send in their resignations at the same time. 
They swore to do so; but did not keep their oaths* A 
council was now held at Pisa, to settle the matter, and 
end the schism. It deposed both "Popes;" and elected 
a new one. ^ The deposed "Popes" refused to consider 
themselves so; called councils; and played Bishop; — 
Gregory for several years, and Benedict till the day of 
his death. In 1414, this miserable strife was ended — 
after having continued about half a century, — by Mar- 
tin V. becoming universally acknowledged as the true 
Bishop of Rome. 

But, these hundred years of dispute, fierce wrang- 
ling and even war, among "Infallible" Bishops, opened 
the eyes of many, and prepared the way for better things. 

Ultimately, the matrimonial designs of Henry VIII. 
led to the entire removal of the Bishop of Rome's 
power in England; and, as a natural result of that, to a 
reformed condition of the Church. 



IIT 

It is sometimes said that the Church thus owes her 
reformation to a most wretched source. But, supposing 
Henry VIII. were the wicked wretch which some assert 
him to have been, should his aid have been rejected 
merely because he was an evil man ? Nebuchadnezzar 
was an idolater, but he could issue an order for the 
worship of God. The Tyrians were heathens, but Sol- 
omon did not reject the cedars they had hewed for the 
Temple. The instruments which God uses to accom- 
plish his designs are not always the good and the upright. 

Henry had no intention of helping a Reform in the 
Church. He was a Romanist, by birth, education and 
inclination. He wrote a treatise on the Roman doc- 
trines, and received from his Holiness, the title of 
''Defender of the Faith." He lived, a Romanist, and 
a Romanist died, leaving in his will, money for masses 
to be forever said for the repose of his soul. 

He had, however, in 1526, begun negotiations, with 
the Bishop of Rome, for the separation of himself from 
his wife, Katharine, the widow of his deceased brother, 
Arthur. He had married this woman by permission of 
the Bishop of Rome; but never having loved her; or, 
growing tired of her, in the nineteen years of wedded 
life; and thinking that a flaw could be picked in the 
validity of the dispensation under which he had con- 
tracted the marriage, he seized the pretext, and impor- 
tuned the Roman Bishop to that end. 

Henry had married Katharine, who was older than 
himself, reluctantly; and perhaps merely to strengthen 
the alliance between Spain and England. Julius II., 
then the Bishop of Rome, had consented to it, so as to 
make the title to the English crown hereafter dependent 



118 

upon himself. For, the heirs of Henry, by this mar- 
riage, would be legitimate, or illegitimate, accordingly 
as he^ the Roman Bishop, should stand by, or fly from, 
his consent to the marriage, and this would be always 

1*ust the rod he wanted to have over the Kingdom, He 
[new that the marriage was contrary to the rules of the 
Church of which he was Chief, and, therefore, to make 
the outside of the transaction look clean, had required 
some little penance to be done by the Prince » . Many 
of the Bishops opposed the marriage, at the time of its 
contraction, on the ground of its illegality, and Henry 
himself never seems to have greatly wished it. 

The nephew of Katharine, Charles V», by his influ» 
ence with the Bishop of Rome, prolonged the negotia- 
fcions a great while* 

Francis F was also greatly opposed to the divorce. 
Bishop Clement, wishing to keep on good terms with 
all these monarchs, Henry, Francis, and Charles, pro- 
tracted the aftair, in all, six years. 

Tired of such manifest double-dealing, Henry Vllle 
adopted a suggestiom, made by Craumer, a doctor of 
the University of Cambridge; and consulted all the 
universities of Europe, upon tke validity of the permis = 
sion under which he had married Katharine, — Oxford.^ 
Cambridge, Bologna, Paris, Orleans, Anglers, Bourges 
Toulouse, Padua and others, besides a host of scholars 
learned in theology and the canons of the Church. All 
agreed that his marriage had been wrongfully contract- 
ed, and hence was no marriage at all. The convocation of 
the Church of England declared in accordance with this 
advice ; and approved of the second marriage, made, short= 
ly after the divorce from Katharine^ with Anne Boleyn. 



CllAPTEH IX, 

PROGKEi^S OF THE REFORM ATiON, 

The real motives of Henry, in regard to hivS divorce, 
have been variously judged. Some think, that he had 
honest scruples about having alloAved himself to marry 
bis sister-in-law; others^ that, as all his oiFspring had 
died prematurely, he dreaded the curse of the Mosaic 
law: others, that the alleged illegitimacy of his daughter 
Mary, prevented him securing a match for her; others, 
that Henry was the tool of Wolsey, and that Wolsey 
wanted to punish Charles V., for not having used his 
influence to have him made Bishop of Rome; others, 
that he was struck with the fresh beauty of Anne, and 
tired of the faded charms of Katharine; and yet others, 
among whom, England's last historian, Froude, that 
Henry wished only to have a male heir for the throne, 
so as to save his Kingdom from, a second ''war of the 
roses/ 

But, be motives as they may, let us turn to the facts. 
And first, a word of Wolsey, Born of humble parent- 
age, he became, at less than 50 j'ears, 'Hhe power be- 
hind the throne, greater than the throne itself." Fellow 
at Magdalene College, Oxford; Master of the school; 
Rector of Lymington; chaplain to the treasurer of Ca- 
lais; chaplain to Henry VII.; Dean of Lincoln and Al- 
moner of the King; Bishop of Lincoln; Archbishop of 
York; Lord Chancellor; Cardinal; Legate: successively 
Bishop of Bath and Wells: Durham, and Winchester; 
with a reveuue greater than that of his royal master; 
unscrupulous, unswerving from any purpose: this 
, wonderful m.an rose fr<:^Di '»bscurity to bewilderiuor 



eminence; and from h'v^ dizzy lieiglit;^, fell, at last, 
into disc»'race. and died a monument of the futility of 
earthly hopes, and the unsatl^f\^ing nature of earthly 

;iinbition8. 

After Bishop Clement escaped from the hands of tlie 
Emperor, he made Cardinal Wolsey one of the judges, 
before ^Yhom the divoi'ce of Henry should be tried in 
Enodand. The trial began, but in the midst of it, was 
adjourned to Rome. Henry protested; upon which 
Wolsey and he quarreled, and Wolsey was disgraced 
from the royal favor. 

Henry tried to plead the priyilege of the crown, bur 
still wanted the taror of the Bishop of Bome^ It was 
confidently expected that some acceptable dissolution 
of the difficulty would l)e made, so soon as the French 
Kini2; and the Bouian Bishop should meet. This would 
be early in the year. J>ut it did not happen till au- 
tumn, and on the'Easter eve just past, Henry, grown 
tired of waiting, had openly announced his marriage. 
Me had been privately mai-ried to Anne Boleyn on the 
Tth of September, by the Bev. Dr., aftei'wards Bishop, 

Lee. 

The Bishop of Borne pronounced the second marriage 
of the King void, and allowed hin till the session of the 
ccmrts in Rome, to retract his conduct; and all the en- 
treaties of the French King at their meeting in Mar-- 
^eilles in the autumn, could not shake his determinatu.n. 

Hardly had the Bishop arrived in Borne, before, 
despite Boner's loud demand for an appeal to a general 
council, a further petition to the Bishop of Borne was 
aoTced upon. At London, was an ambassador m the 
interest ^.f the French court. Off now he posts to Rome, 



1^1 

with the new.^ that Eiighind might yet be saved to the 
Papal Church I It was now proposed to Henry, that, if 
he would consent to submit the whole matter to the 
courts in Rome, everj^ exertion would be made to get the 
Cardinals to favor him. Henry agreed to this, and is 
said to have submitted his case; but, his answ^er coming 
a. little beyond the stipulated time, the tools of Charles 
persuaded the Bishop of Rome to hurriedly ratify the 
marriage of Katharine, and to require Henry to put 
Anne away* 

When the English messenger did reach Rome, the 
Emperor's influence still prevailed,, and the cause was 
never fairly heard, having been decided in advance of 
its submission. 

Upon the death of Wolsey, the clergy of the whole 
kingdom were threatened with punishment for violating 
the laws of Edward and Richard, and recognizing Wol- 
sey as Leo-ate. This led to their makin^; the Kin^; su- 
preme, and ''head" of the English "Church. Thus the 
Bishop of Rome was formally ejected from all control 
over the English Church. Henry was made "Head of 
the Church" ojih/ so far, of course, as the laws of the 
gospel allowed; for the Church could decree nothing 
against them, 

I have thought it w^ell to gather up the foregoing 
fragments, before enumerating the succession of acts by 
which abuses were rectified, and the Augean stables 
into which the Roman ecclesiastical troops, quartered 
in England by his ''Holiness," had turned the fair 
places of the English Church. 

Four years before Henry's marriage. Parliament had 
>>egun the work of active reform, by passing law s against 



122 

the right of clergy to reside away from their people, 
holding more than one charge, and farming out their 
benefices; and in 1532, it was made illegal for any one 
to appeal to the Bishop of Rome, in any case zvhatever. 
Then the payment to him of first-fruits, tenths, Peter- 
pence and all similar exactions, was prohibited. 

In 1543, not a trace of the usurpation of many centu- 
ries remained. 

The King had enquired of all the Bishops and heads 
of religious houses, their opinion in answer to the ques- 
tion, whether the Bishop of Rome had any divine right 
to rule over the English Church. With but one ap- 
proving voice, that of Fisher, the Bishops, and others 
consulted, replied in the negative. 

Henry had promised to protect the Church in her 
acts of resistance to the Bishop of Rome's pretended 
jurisdiction; and thus protected, she had gone fearlessly 
to work, at the labor of reforming herself. . Thus was 
the usurped jurisdiction of Rome repudiated; and it 
will be noticed that it was set aside regularly^ and in 
due form of law. 

Henry did not do at all right by the Church, He 
claimed the first fruits and tenths, that had been for- 
merly paid to the Bishop of Rome. He consented to, and 
even ordered, the execution of several persons, for relig- 
ious reasons. One of these, Fisher, at his eightieth 
year of age; another. Sir Thomas More, Ex-Lord Chan- 
cqllor. These things will ever be stains upon the 
memory of the eighth Henry, 

Another thing now done, was to suppress the MonavS- 
teries. These had been visited and been found to be 
very corrupt- For ten years the gradual dismantling 



12S 

^•f these iustiiLuious went on. It seems to have been 
needful that something should be done to destroy their 
evil influence, and to bring them under proper authority 
and discipline. They should never, howeyer, have 
been destroyed, nor should any of their revenues have 
been bestowed upon the King. True, with some of the 
money, Henry did have several new Bishoprics founded, 
but his appropriation of the greater part of it to him- 
self is not either to his credit, or to that of the times. 

In regard to doctrines, but little reform was made 
in this respect. True, the convocation of the Church 
issued some valuable books in which the reformed doc- 
trine was set forth. 

But Henry and his Parliament were almost as much 
Roman as ever. In 1539 '^tlie six articles'^ were 
passed, upholding transubstantiation; the giving of the 
wine only to the people; the celibacy of the clergy; 
masses for souls in purgatory; and auricular confes- 
sion. The penalty for denying these articles, was 
burning, or imprisonment for life. 

Much yet had to be done in order to thoroughly re- 
form the Church. 

Two events more remain to be noticed. One was, 
the appointment of several Bishops favorable to the good 
cause of correcting the existing evils; the other, the 
publication, in 1545, of what was called the ''King's 
Primer," which contained the Lord's prayer, creed, ten 
commandments, Venite, Te Deum, and other hymns, and 
some collects — all in English. These new Bishops 
added fuel to the flames now kindled in the land. And 
this book became the germ of the present Service Book 
of our Reformed Catholic Church. 



124 
CHAPTER X. 

THE REFORMATION UNDER EDWARD VI. 

Heni-y VIII. dying in 1547, Edward VI., son of that 
King and Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry, ascended 
the throne at the age of ten. The Roman Catholic- 
party had greatly impeded the reformation during the 
latter years of Henry. They now surrendered their 
power, as one may well imagine, not without a great 
struggle. But finally, the Duke of Somerset, maternal 
uncle of Edward, was chosen Protector until the young 
King should come of age. Somerset was favorable to 
the Reformation; and, under the auspicious omens of a 
favoring King and Protector, the work of the Refoi-ma- 
tion went encouragingly on. 

Edward VI. was called during his reign, and has fre= 
quently been since, the second Josiah. And well is the 
name applied. Brought up in the reformed faith, 
carefully educated, and of a high moral and religious 
tone, he was a fitting instrument of his Church's refor- 
mation. Says Blunt: '^his own character was a most 
persuasive advocate of the system which had nurtured 
it." During his short reign, the Church was wisely 
re-arranged. 

About this time, had met the Romish council of 
Trent. It was expected, by many, that the Roman 
Catholic Church would, at this council, take measures 
which would so greatly reform the corruptions of that 
Church as to enable the Reformed Catholic Church 
of England to be on terms of friendliness and full com- 
munion with her. But she did not. On the contrary, 
she greatly widened the broach between the two 



V2r) 

away uiic of tlie iioble^it oppoi'tunitirs 
ever placed by Providence in the hands of man, for giv- 
in;! permanent peace and unity to the Christian world. 

(.'ranmer, finding tlie Protector favorable to measures 
'>f reform, now laid his plans for restoring the national 
r'hurch to her olden purity. He ordered a copy of 
Erasmus's Paraphrase of the New Testament in Eng- 
lish, and a copy of the Holy Bible, to be placed in every 
Parish Church. Also, a volume of Homilies: i. c, 
plain sermons; and soon after, published a catechism. 
Attention was now directed to the Holy Communion. 
Henry YIII., who died as he had lived — a Romanist, 
not a Protestant — had left money by his last wdll and 
testament, to have masses said forever for his soul. 
But every one was now enquiring, ''Why these, or any 
other, masses for the soul?'' A committee was then 
appointed to examine the subject of masses, and to pro- 
vide a proper form for the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper. This form appeared in 1548. 

Both the bread and wine were now given to com- 
municants; the clergy w^ere allowed to marry; images 
were removed from the Churches, and Curates enjoined 
to be careful to read the Scriptures to the people; 
and Bishops to be careful to admit to the ministry none 
but fit persons. 

A cause operating, in this reign, against the progi'ess 
of the reform movement, was the fact, that the monks who 
had been thrown out of places, w^hen the monasteries 
Avere suppressed, were allowed a support until such 
time as they should obtain benefices. As ,the King 
wanted as little money paid out of the royal revenues 
as possible for this imri^o^i' i or any other), u great many 



126 

of these monks were supplied with places; aucL to a 
man, they were disaffected towards the new order of 
things, and of course cast their influence against it. 
But, despite this, the work, as I said, went surely on. 

By May 4th, 1649— Whitsunday— the new -^Book of 
of Common Pra^^er" was in general use. Several re- 
visions of this book have, from time to time, taken place, 
but the one to-day used is substantially the same. 
This book had the sanction both of Parliament and of the 
Convocations of the Church. Two or three Years af- 
terwards some alterations were made in this book:— 
to the morning and evening prayer, which used to be- 
gin with the Lord's prayer, were added the sentences, 
exhortation, confession and absolution; the ten com- 
mandments were introduced into the Communion- 
>Service; the Litany was ordered for Sundays; a rubric 
explaining the kneeling at Holy Communion was in- 
serted; a rubric about the robes of officiating clergy; 
and a few others constituted the alterations. A form 
for ordinations was also inserted. 

No one can endorse all that took place during this, 
any more than the preceding reign. Both Somerset 
and Henry were men of human parts, liable to err and 
not always moved by the highest motives. But the 
Church, in employing their agency, by no means en- 
dorses their private acts, or complicates herself with 
their personal motives. Nor does the fact of a bad man 
endorsino^ and assistini>; a <zood measure, make the 
measure evil ! 

Of course I hardly need say that this throwing off 
the yoke of the Papal power in England created a great 
revulsion in the feelings of the Roman Church towards 



\{i^v English sister. The English Chiueh never iiitend- 
ed to, and never did, separate from the communion oF 
the rest of the Church Catholic, or any branch thereof; 
but so long had the Roman Church accustomed itself to 
the idea that it, and it alone, was the Catholic Church, 
that some still cluno- to that notion in Enc^land, thouoth 
they did not venture to withdraw from the old Catho- 
lics of that realm, but still attended all the services of 
the ii^m Reformed Church, and established none of their 
own. This all did (excepting, of course, the five years 
of Mary) down to the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth, 
when, induced by Jesuits, sent over for that purpose, 
and by the bull of the Bishop of Rome, some English 
folk separated from the Church, and set up a new 
Church — the Roman, The Church of England, thus, 
never separated from any other branch of the Church. 
It was the Roman Catholic element in her which se- 
ceded from her. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE REFORMATION SUSPENDED FOR FIVE YEARS AND A 

HALF. 

Fearing to have a Roman Catholic Princess mount 
the throne, Granrner and others endeavored to secure the 
crown for Lady Jane Orey, a Protestant, But this 
lady VN'as deposed and executed almost as soon as pro- 
claimed, and July, looo, Mary, the rightful Queen, was 
placed in her stead. 

From July to October, it was uncert^^in in which di- 



128 

rection the niujurity I't the people leaned: to the re- 
formecU or to theunreformed Church. The citiei:^ appeared 
to incline to the former; but the rural parts of the 
realm to the latter. Soon, however, the royal influence, 
the supposed self-interest of some, the sincere convic- 
tions of others, the hopes of peace and Cjuiet to be 
gained by going back to old ways, and of course many 
other considerations that cannot here, or, indeed, at all, 
be enumerated, caused the scales to descend in favor of 
the Romish party, and Mary found herself supported by 
a Parliament ready to do almost anything which she, 
or rather the Italian Bishop, through her, should re- 
quire. Though she distinctly promised the Reformers 
of Suffolk that she would force no one's conscience, she 
and her parliament at once indorsed all the evils by 
which the Church had been oppressed and corrupted i]i 
former days. Pole was brought over, charged with the 
duty of either persuading or forcing the English church- 
men back under the control of the Ptoman Bishop. — 
Gardiner was made Chancelor, and no one was allowed 
to preach without his consent. Rogers, Cranmcr, 
Latimer, Hooper, Ridley and others were burned t<» 
death. No less than fourteen Bishops were driven from 
their Sees. Three thousand other clergy were expelled 
from their churches and homes. During the reign oF 
Edward YI. only two persons had been put to death 
for religious opinions — a Dutchman, and one Joan ot 
Kent. In that of Mary, nearly three hundred perished. 
Evervthin^ was done, durin^r this reio, that could 

t/O • O .111 

be done, against the purer forms of worship that had 
been provided for the people. The use of the revised 
pra.vcr book was prohibited: and the Roman Catholic 



129 

.•^erviccfs re6tured. The wine was taken iVoni the peo- 
ple in the Holy Communion; and all other ret^tor- 
ations of the primitive and seriptural practices of the 
English Church abolished. 

The acts by which the work of the Reformation was 
thus, for the time being, undone, were altogether irreg= 
ular and invalid; contrary to law and order, and 
not binding upon the Church. The object of them wavS 
the restoration of the Bishop of Rome's jurisdiction in 
the realm— a thing that had been legally and regularly 
suppressed by the Church, and could not in this man- 
ner be revived and restored. Even had it been synod- 
ically restored, it would only have been the same 
jurisdiction he had had before — and that we have al- 
ready seen w^as a usurped and unlaw*ful one. But there 
Avas no attempt at synodical judgment. The Queen's 
party merely made a submission to his Holiness; 
begged his forgiveness for the acts of the preceding 
reigns; and, having obtained it, considered that this 
w'as all that w^as necessary, in order to undo the Church's 
ow^n deliberate acts of two whole reigns. 

Some of the new Bishops Avere thrust into Sees by 
the sole orders of Mary herself, who, while protesting 
against the name, *^Head of the Church," nevertheless 
thus acted as a Papess in full feather, and ejected and 
restored according to her owni sweet will ! 

It must be said, however, to the credit of Mary's 
reign that the Church lands and revenues that had been 
wrongfully seized, during the two preceding reigns, 
were restored: the mortmain act, wd_iich had been passed 
to prevent the church from acquiring property, was re- 
pealed for twentv ycare; and the clergy exempted from 



180 

jjayiiig tenths and some other oppressive taxes. V\' oulil 
thiit more good could be said of her reign, but it cannot. 
She died after a reign of about five and a half years. 
She left a nation in debt and disgrace. She left Calais 
lost to the English crown. She left the realm threat- 
ened by the French, and preyed upon by the Spaniards. 
She left blood upon English soil that has not dried up 
to this day. The nation rejoiced at her death. Bon- 
fires of joy were lit before her body was cold, and 
''Protestant" Elizabeth hailed as Queen, by acclama- 
tion. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SOME OF THE REFORMERS. 

The first to shed his blood during the reign of Mary, 
was Rogers. He was burned at the stake for the 
enormous impiety of receiving the Holy Communion in 
a way d liferent from the Papal form ! 

Hooper's death at the stake came soon after. He 
could have saved his life by flight, but would not. Lin- 
gering in the flames three-quarters of an hour, this good 
Bishop at last expired, a martyr to the cause of the 
Reformed Church. 

Rowland Taylor was another martyr. He was Rec- 
tor of Hadley. The great Jeremy Taylor was one of 
his descendants. Taylor's only offense was the not ad- 
hering to the Papal cause. 

Ridley was another. Born in ^Northumberland; dis- 
tinguished at Cambridge, Paris, and elsewhere, for the 



181 

as&idiiity with which lie pro.<ecuted his studies; and, 
wherever known, for the singular piety of his life; cele- 
brated as a preacher; he occupied several minor posi- 
tions in the Churchj and became first the Bishop of 
Rochester, and then that of London, In 1533 he gave 
his voice against the alleged rights of the Bishop of 
Rome over the English Church, Perusing the work of 
Bertram (or Ratram) he was brought to renounce the 
prevailing error of transubstantiation; and subsequently 
$0 influenced both Latimer and Cranmer as to bring 
them to the same chancre of views. Durinor the fires of 
Mary's reign, he died in great agony of body, but in 
the peace of Christian hopes, at the martyr's stake. 

Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, who has been called 
the apostle of England, was another victim of the bloody 
daj's of Mary. An humble born man, and an imitator 
in his speech and manners of the I'ude and homely- 
speaking friars of the day. he, by his earnest and famil- 
iar preaching, was particularly valuable as an instru- 
ment of the Reformation among the poor and illiterate. 

And now we come to Cranmer, Though, in one 
sense, the leading star of the Reformation, we must 
confess, that^ in others, he was but a flickering planet 
in the firmament. He seems to have been infirm of 
purpose, probably arising from deficiency of animal 
courage; but he was, beyond all doubt, correct of mo« 
tive and holy of purpose. 

He, Latimer and Ridley, were first sent to prison for 
having favored Lady JaneGrey; but subsequently, the 
accusation was changed to that of heresy. On the lat- 
ter charjie all three were condemned. Eio[:hteen months 
aftcrAvards, Cranmor's two componions were, Ois before 



3 32 

said) burned, but he was vcRerved for a specuil purpose 
ibr live months k)nger. That special purpose soon 
manifested itself. Ridle}" and Latimer being men of 
the lion's heart and eagle's eye, Gardiner and Mary had 
no hopes of ever causing them to waver. But of Cran- 
mer, from his peculiar temperament, they had this hope. 
The Queen and her advisers played that it required a 
^'Pope" to burn an Archbishop — but that a Queen was 
enough to burn only a couple of Bishops ! And so, 
while Ridley and Latimer were executedj Cranmerwas, 
for a time, spared. Nor was the hope of the Papal 
party disappointed. Poor Cranmer, flattered, coaxed, 
handsomely treated, and deceived, retracted his adher- 
ence to the Reformed Faith and Church. He, however, 
subsequently recanted his recantation; and, at his execu- 
tion, thrust his right hand first into the flames, saying 
that as it had so greivously offended, it should be the 
first to suffer. 

Of these men we may say this, that they all exer- 
cised great influence upon the forms that the theological 
expressions of the Church assumed during these trouble- 
some times, and were all useful in their day and genera- 
tion. And, that in w^hatever matter, this, that, or the 
other one, may have erred, the Church itself is not to 
be judged by any one of her servants, having her own 
authorized modes of expressing her mind. 

Most of all are we not for the shade of a shadow of a 
moment, to regard them — singly, or together, as the 
originators of the English Church. They founded no 
neiv Church. They were English Bishops perpetuating 
—now cleansed and purified — the identical old Church 
that, from the days of the Wvu British Bishops — yea. 



tVom those of- must likely — St. Puul liuiiself had ex- 
isted on Eiiirlish shores. 



CHAPTER Xin. 

KKVORAI RESI'MED AND ACTIVKLY PRESSED. 

Elizabeth coming to the throne upon the death of 
Mary in 1558, the work uf Reformation, begun in the 
'lays of Wicklifle, more actively pursued during the 
reigns of Henry and Edward, but temporarily suspended 
during the short reign of * 'bloody Mary/' was now re- 
sumed and carried to completion. 

All the Papal acts of the reign of Mary were revoked, 
and the Church laws which had been formerly executed 
with the full appioval of the Church, through her regu- 
lar and lawful authorities, during the reigns of Henry 
and Edward, and which, from never having been repealed 
by the Church which passed them, had, of course, never 
lost any of their binding effect upon the Church, and 
her officers and members, were now^ all restored. Those 
Bishops who had been illegally thrust into the English 
Dioceses Avere removed, upon their refusing to submit 
to the Reformed order of things. Kitchin w^as the only 
P»ishop who stood tirmly by the Church of England. 
And it will be noticed, that a very different policy was 
exercised towards these Romanizing Bishops, from that 
under wliich Cranmer, Ridley, and hundreds of other 
persons ha'd gone to the stake in the reign of Mary. 
Instead of the stake and the torch, the Bishops removed 
in the reign of Elizabeth, lived in peace and quiet in 



134 

their private residences, or were provided for at th^ 
public expense; the only one — Bouner— ^vho was im- 
prisoned, being so treated as a clemency, in order to 
protect him from the probable results of the public 
anger. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, during this reign, was 
iNIatthew Parker, Owing to the persecutions of- Mary, 
there were but few English Bishops left, and it became 
necessary to fill the vacant Dioceses in order that the 
Church might go on unbroken. 

The rule of the Church was to have (whenever it was 
possible), at least three Bishops to consecrate a Bishop. 
Whenever, by unfortunate circumstances, this number 
could not be had, even one Bishop could consecrate. 
This made a person thus consecrated as fully a Bishop 
as if a hundred Bishops had joined in the laying on of 
hands; but, still, the Church, from the very early ages, 
has required at least three (when they can be had), for 
the greater security in keeping up the chain of succes- 
^3ion, 

Four Bishops were now obtained to consecrate Parker. 
One was Barlow, late Bishop of Bath and Wells, a.nd at 
thattime Bishop=elect of Chichester; another, Coverdale, 
Bishop of Exeter. These two Bishops had Sees in the 
Church; and, by the laws of the Church, could call in 
the assistance of other Bishops. They called Scory, 
late Bishop of Chichester, and at that time, Bishop- 
elect of Hereford; and Hodgkins, suffragan Bishop of 
Bedford. These last, by the law^s of the Church, whicli 
provided that anj' Bishop, out of a Diocese, may never- 
theless, exercise all the functions of a Bishop in the 
Diocese of another Bishop at his request, assisted Bur- 



135 

low and Coverdaie; and by these four^ Parker was con- 
secrated in due and valid form at Lambeth.'^ 

The vacant Dioceses were now all filled; some altera* 
tions made in the book of Common Prayer, the clergy 
generally conforming to the restoration of a pure wor- 
ship in the people's tongue: the sacraments W'Cre duly 
administered ; churches opened and the gospel preached ; 
and the XXXIX articles drawn up by the Church's 
authority and confirmed by the temporal pow^ers, and 
thus the Church w^as once more at peace. 

One event of this reign must not be overlooked; it 
was the refusal of Queen Elizabeth to be called ^'Head 
of the Church.'' Another was the Royal direction, to 
the House of Commons that it should not discuss any 
bill relating to religion, that had not beforehand received 
the approval of the Bishops and other clergy in convo= 
cation. These two facts show the temper of this illus- 
trious Queen towards the Church, and are to her lasting 
honor. 

I have just said that the Church was now at peace. 
It wasj in the main. Some disaffected, of course, nat- 
urally remained, particularly the expelled Bishops; but 
for five years all the people, and for five more, most of 
them, as lonce before intimated, attended the Reformed 
services, and received the sacraments from the hands of 
the clergy of the Reformed mode. Many secretly longed 
for the Roman ritual and other Roman ways, but never 
thought of separating from the Church in which they 
had been born, baptized, and confirmed, and never 

*'Ths record of this was kept carefully and appears t© this day; 
so there is not the siignUst doubt of t]ie*^coasecration, Eoinanbts 
admit it 



136 

would have done so, but for the wiles of Jesuits— an or- 
der just formed— and the ire of his Holiness. 

In 1569 the Bishop of Rome issued a ''bulF' defam- 
ing and excommunicating Elizabeth, absolving all her 
people from their oaths of allegiance, and with great 
liberality— seeing it was not his to .(//t;^— bestowing her 
crown upon the Spanish King. This made the formal 
division of the English Church. The adherents of the 
Bishop of Rome soon drew off, and set up Churches of 
their own. Thus, in 1570, the Roman Church in 
England began. There was no necessity for it, as the 
fact that Romanists for eleven years, could attend upon 
the services of the Reformed Church of Eno;]and, and 
receive the sacraments fromher Priests, amply testifies. 
Another proof of the utter non-necessity of a with- 
drawal of the recusants from the Church of England, 
and the setting up of a new religious body in the realm, 
is the fact, that the Bishop of Rome had distinctly of- 
fered to recognize the claims of Elizabeth to the throne, 
and to give his sanction to the use of the English 
Prayer Book, if only his supremacy should be acknowl- 
edged. Surely Romanists had no need of a7iy other 
Prayer Rook, if that of the English Church was correct 
enough to merit the approval of their Papal Head ! 
Surely they had no need of any other Priests, Churches, 
services, and ministrations, if those of the Reformed 
English Church were good enough for the Infallible 
Pontiff at Rome ! Another fact that deserves to be 
thrown in just here to show that even his Holinees did 
not consider the Reformed Church in a stafce of heresy 
or schism^ is that he extended it an invitation to be 
||reB€Bt at hie council at Trent. Surely the adherents 



137 

of Rome in England did not need another Church, if the 
one there was good enough to be asked, by no less than 
his Holiness, to a seat at the conciliar board. 

Excepting about six years when a Bishop, without 
any legitimate jurisdiction, and only technically conse* 
crated for the position resided in England, the Roman 
Church had no rival Bishop in that country till 1685. 
This was the state of that seceding body for 115 years; 
=— that is, from 1570, the date of its leaving the English 
Church, to the just mentioned event and period. 

Oh ! that our erring sister had never left the maternal 
side. Oh ! that both she-=reformed and purified,— and 
all the others who have followed her example, would re= 
turn to the historic fold. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

MORE ABOUT ELIZABETH AND HER TIMES* 

Thus, two Kings and two Queens played conspicuous 
parts during the period called the Reformation. 

Henry was a half-educated theologian. Had he cared 
more for religion, and less for theology, it had been 
better for him, and his realm. Edward was a pious boy- 
King; the real rulers of the Kingdom being, of course, 
Somerset and Cranmer, Mary was a sincere bigot; 
her passion, her Church; and her Creed, the Roman 
Bishop, Elizabeth was a diplomatist, rather than a 
Queen. A few more words of her and her times. 

The times of Elizabeth were peculiarly trying. She 
was known to be, at heart, a ••Protestant"; but she 
must make haste slowly, to make haste effectually. Ac-^ 



138 

cordingly, at the first j but little was done save to place 
the Reformation somewhat where it was before the 
days of Mary. Elizabeth had had just the training to make 
her cautious. From her youth to her accession, she 
had walked among the heated ploughshares of the fiery 
ordeal of those times. She had, also, in Cecil, a most 
wary friend and counsellor. For instance, they did not 
venture to turn off all her Roman Catholic officers of 
state, but they took good care that this class should be 
in the minority. They did not force Parliament to 
make laws of the kind she wished, but they took good 
care that only the kind of members they 
wanted should be. elected. To make ?ure of 
her own position, and to give time for the sea to calm, 
w^as the masterly policy of Elizabeth and Cecil, during 
the early part of her reign. 

When the minds of the people were ripe, the 
statutes necessary to advance the cause of the reforma- 
tion were passed. Elizabeth greatly wished to save the 
Roman Catholic portion of her people to the Re= 
formed Church, and everj' due effort was made 
to secure that end; but without av:^il. Nearly 
all the parish clergy accepted the reformed state 
of things, and, as before said, for eleven years, most of 
the people as well. The Bishops, save one, refused. 
The impression they, it is thought, had, was that if 
they should thus refuse in so large a body, it would 
frighten her and her advisers into a compromise. But 
cautious at the first, caution had paved the way for the 
exercise of firmness; and she was now able to exhibit 
herself in her true colors and fling to the breeze the 
reformed Sag. On the Oontine-at there • were a gre^..t 



139 

many clergy attacked to the reformed ways. They had 
fled while Mary held the scepter in her red hand; but 
were now desirous of returning. From these, the corps 
of English Bishops was recruited, and the Church duly 
supplied: and thus, the reformed faith and practices 
were rescued from danger^ 

One of the most brilliant of these was Bishop Jewell, 
He was a master of language, and his works will live 
while the English tongue does. Others^ again, were 
far from valuable to the true interests of the Church; 
and helped to sow seeds, the thorns and thistles of 
which are found in the broad acres of the Church both 
in England and x\merica, to this day. 

Thus did Elizabeth, a mother in Israel, arise at a 
most opportune tirne; and thus- did she, in a most 
happy manner, guide the course of Beform in the 
Church. To say that she did, at times, things which 
no one can altogether justify, is only to say that she 
was mortaL 



140 
CHAPTER XVe 

THE CHURCH ESSENTIALLY THE SAME CHURCH, AFXER^ AS 
BEFORE3 HER REFORMATION. 

By this, we do not mean that she was the same kind 
of a church. The same kind^ thank Heavenj she was 
not. She was now reformed, whereas before she had 
grown corrupt. But the same Ohurch^ she was, and is. 
identity is one question; condition^ another. 

We may speak of the changes made by the reformers, 
under the heads of, ceremonies, discipline, and creed. 

First, of ceremonies. If the identity of a Church 
were to depend upon these, and change in these things 
were to destroy that identity, it would be making the 
Church to consist often in the cajeful preserva.tion of 
vain and corrupt, or absurd forms; for ceremonies fre« 
quently degenerate into superstitions and corruptions. 
And if the identity of a Church be destroyed by a 
change of evil ceremonial, then there is at once a pre- 
mium offered upon superstition; for it is certainly the 
duty of a Church to preserve its continuity. 

^esideSj if it be true that a mere alteration of rules 
of worship destroys the identity of a Church, then there 
is at present not a Church in existence in all the world; 
for not one but has^ from time to time, altered its rit- 
ual and worship. 

Being all of voluntary introduction, it is within the 
power of the Church which introduces them^ to modify^ 
increase, decrease, or^ in any way, alter them. The 
end of their adoption was the ediiication of the worship- 
pers; if greater edification can be secured by alteration^ 
then altei'ation rises to the dignity of a positive duty- 



141 

—In regard to the changes made in the ceremonial of 
the Church at the Reformation^ such changes only were 
made as were called for by due regard for the greater 
edification of her members. 

As to discipline. The Reformed Church retained 
the sayne three orders of the ministry which she had be- 
fore; the sam^ form of Church government; even the 
same non-essential parochial and Diocesan divisions and 
sub-divisions. The rejection of the Roman Bishop's 
usurped authority no more touched her identity (which 
is^ at this moment the question, and the only question, 
before us) than the crainino: of a suit at law touches 
the identity of the successful party. 

As to creed. This the Church held after, as before, 
her reformed condition. She cast off certain corrupt 
views and dogmas, which had been engrafted upon her, 
but held firmly to the historic creed. 

And, thus, holding the same great truths; worship- 
ing the same Adorable Persons; having the same Bible; 
the same sacraments; the same form of government; the 
same apostolic succession; the sam^ essential doctrines; 
the same creed, in the same sense; she is beyond all 
doubt and controversy, the very same Church. She 
changed not her position in the great constellation of 
national Churches to which she belongs;, but, though, 
at times, obscured by clouds, has .ever revolved the 
same identical star in the bespangled firmament of the 
universal Church. 



142 
CHAPTER XVL 

THE FLUCTUATING FORTUNE OF THE CHURCH FOR ONE 
HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS o 

During the reigns succeeding that treated of in our 
chapter before the last, the fortunes of the now thor- 
oughly Reformed Church vacillated according to the 
political state of the Kingdom, 

Many of the English who had been exiled during 
Mary's, reign, imbibed the peculiar views of those who 
were carrying on a reformation on the Continent, a 
reformation which was as violent in its character, as 
that in England had been conservative. Upon the ac- 
cession of Elizabeth, these exiles returning, filled with 
Continental notions, naturally began an attempt to 
engraft them upon the Church at home. According to 
them, the Reformation had not gone far enough- In 
about 1570, they became so dissatisfied because the 
Church would not accommodate Herself to their Conti= 
nental views, that they formed congregations of their 
own, and' went out, (as the Roman party had just done) 
from the English Church.'*' 

Puring the reign of James Ic they drew up a petition 
stating their points of objection to the Church. At 
Hampton- Court, where^ in 1608, a meeting took place 
to consider the ^ubtei^t of this petition, it was decided, 
after a hearing of botji sides, that the demands of the 
Puritans ought not to be granted. A good result of the 

-There have been three secessicns from the Church of England. 
First, the Koman party seceeded. Nest, the Puritan party. Later, 
the Methodists, They were all mistakes* For Bot oae of them, 
waa there the siight^^t need. 



i4S 

meeting, however, was the andertaking of the great 
English translation of the Bible^ a translation completed 
in 1611, Thus, while the Roman Council of Toulouse 
forbade the reading, and even the translation, of the 
Scriptures, the conference of Hampton-Court became 
the means of setting forth, in the people's own tongue, 
the purest translation ever made of that sacred 
volume. 

In 1640 new" troubles assailed the Church. A great 
civil war was raging. King and Parliament %vere ar- 
rayed against each other. The people were divided, 
kinsman against kinsman. The Puritans gained the 
ascendency. Three thousand clergy were cast out of 
their parishes, and the foes of the Church put in their 
places. Our Churches were converted into stables; and 
their organs, chancels, and costly windows, ruthlessly 
demolished. Altar-cloths became saddle blankets for 
Psalm-singing troopers. Horses were watered from 
the fonts; and upon the Altars the rations of the sol- 
diers were served up. The Liturgy and the Episcopal 
form of Church government -were pretendedly abolished 
by the Puritan Parliament. To use, read, or even otvii^ 
a Prayer-book was an offence punishable by law with 
severe penalties. 

Then came Cromwell; under whom the poor Church 
still suffered every kind of indignity and wrong. 

When Charles 11. was restored to the throne, in 
1660, the affairs of the Church assumed a more quiet 
aspect. All the acts of the irregular parliament of the 
preceding ill times being invalid for want of the royal 
signature, the Church at once, without any formal re- 
peal of those acts stepped back to her former position. 



144 

The uBe of the Prayer-book was resumed. The BishopB 
and other clergy re-entered upon their duties. And, as 
soon as the vacant Bishoprics were filled (which was 
done by the consecration of eleven Bishops in the win- 
ter of 1660-61,) the current of the Church flowed as 
smoothly on, as if it had not, for now twenty years, 
been lashed into fury by the storms of human ambitions 
and made turgid by the fierceness of human passions. 

James II. on coming to the throne in 1685, pledged 
himself to support the Church as then existing, but had 
not been upon the throne more than two years before 
he violated his promises, and endeavored to promote 
the enemies of the Church to places of trust, even going 
so far as to imprison her Bishops for refusing to second 
his wrongful acts. His repeated violation of his coro- 
nation promises led finally to his abdication, and throw- 
ing his great seal into the Thames, he fled and sought 
the protection of the King of France. 

William and Mary succeeding, a new trouble overtook 
the Church. Many clergy, still considering James as 
their lawful sovereign, refused to ^'swear allegiance" to 
William and Mary. From this they were called 
^'Non-jurors.'' But these brave Churchmen were as 
true to their Church, as they considered themselves to 
their King, and did not attempt to set up a new Church, 
when deprived of their temporalities. They quietly 
submitted to seeing other Bishops consecrated for their 
Dioceses and bided their time. Bishops, they could 
never cease to be. Deprivation of the ability to exer- 
cise jurisdiction, was not abolition of their office. They 
were merely Bishops temporarily deprived of Dioceses. 
But, in time, this ripple upon the surface of the 



146 

Church's peace, like all the others, passed away; and 
the great sea of Church life was once more calm. 

Since then, no such storms as those of earlier days 
have befallen the English Church. The trials she has 
had have been of a different nature, God has wonder- 
fully preserved her, however, through them all; and she 
was never more fully active to her responsible position, 
as a National Church, than to-day.* 

^The American Kevolution severing the Colonies frona the 
Mother Country, Bishops were ordained for the former Colonial, 
but now independent, American Church. Up to this time, the 
Bishop of London had exercised jurisdiction over the Church in 
this Jand. But, Isov, 14, 1784, Bishop Seabury was consecrated 
for the American Church, by Scotch, and Feb. 4, 1787, Bishops 
Provoost and White, by English, Bishops : and thus the American 
branch of the Church received a valid succession ; and all her 
Bishops can trace their orders back to the very days of St. Paml 
and St, John. 



-fid 



QUESTIONS ON SERIES L; 

Adapting the foregoing Chapters to Bible and Confirma- 
tion classes. 

CHAPTER lo 

What was the religion which Britain had before she was Chris- 
tian called ?— Of what may it be the remnant ?— Give the points of 
resemblance between the two?— Repeat the first quotation in last 
1[.— Repeat the second, 

CHAPTER II. 

Who appealed unto Cesar? [Explain what this means.*] — To 
what city did St. P. now take his journey?— How far, by sea? 
How far, by Jand? — Who composed the company ? — [Give account 
ofAppian Way.]— Who met St. P. at Apii Forum? —Who were 
they ?— Who, at Three Taverns?-— At what part of the City was St. 
P. placed ?~How was he chained? — Did he dwell with the other 
prisoners? -Mention th© three ciaasses of people, which made up 
liis first congregation, 

■^Bracketed words, for teacher. 

CHAPTER III. 

What reigning family did St. P. meet in Rome ?— Give their 
Barnes. — Wlxy was not the British King put to death ?~How did 
St. P, obtain a hired house of his own ?— Who new came to hearl 
Mm?— Who are supposed to be the "Saints of Cesar^s House-J 
hold '^ mentioned in Scripture ?~Which of these Britains are[ 
mentioned in 2 Tim..^~=Give the substance of the second %. p. 10.- 
Also, of % 3.r-What does Collier say ? [A celebrated Eng. Bishop 
asd Historian.] Repeat, word for word, last 1[ p. 11. 



147 

CHAPTER IV. 

What four writers admit that St. P. planted the Church in Brit- 
ain?— Give substance of what they each say.— -What four earlier 
writers say the same?-='Give what they say. — What says another — 
Clement? — Were not he and St. Paul living at the same time? 
Ought not Clement, then, to have known? Who was C. ? — Give 
seven ranhorities for the fact that "extreme West," etc., means 
England.— What does Phil. TV, 3, say of Clement? To whom, 
then, have we great right to attribute the founding of the (Epis- 
copal) Church in England ? 

CHAPTER V. 

W^ho was to go specially to the Jews?— Who, to the Gentiles? — 
How long was it, between the liberation of St P. and his death?— 
Was it not natural that St. Paul should seek England?— Give 
reason contained in % 2, p. 16.— Give that in ^ 3. — Give that in ^ 
1, p. 17.- Also; % 2. -Also; % 3. [Enlarge upon some of these.] 
Being founded by an Apostle, what may the Ch. be called ? And if 
^' apostolic," must she not be a true Church ? Hew old, too, would 
her Pauline founding make the Eng. Ch. ?— Which is the oldest of 
the sects ? 

PHAPTER VI. 

Why did the Britons suspect the Romans?— Was* Christianity, 
then, coming from a hostile people likely to be well received? — 
Did then, the Roman Church make much impression on the 
Briton nation ?— Are there any traces of the Roman Church in 
Ergland for the first 600 years? — Did not the British and the 
Roman Church customs differ ?— [Instance these; Easter, Bap^ 
tism, Liturgy.] Repeat last If of Ch. VI. 

CHAPTER VIT. 

Who was Luciui?— What says Collier? — Who was Collier? 
(See q. on Chap. 3).— What of certain coins?— Where did L. re- 
side ?— Whence did L. receive Christian influences? [Explain 
C4aul ; its nearness, etc.] What effect had the conversion of L« 
upon the Eng. people ?'--RepeRt what Lingard* says as quoted in 
last ^ Ch, 6, 

*A Rotn. (hth. wrirt'&r. 



148- 

€H AFTER VIll. 

Kepeat the facts given in ^. 1 this Ch. about Jerusalem.— Was 
it not far more likely that the East should make an impression upon 
Britain, than that the West should?— Give reasons ;'p 24.— [Ex- 
plain ' East f and " West.''] -Was it in E. or m W. the word 
^* Ckrifitian^^ was coined? [Explain all about Antioch.] Is 
*' Catholic" E. or W. word ? [Catholic=universalj worldwide ; 
not B'mian Catholic.]— Is *' Church ?''— If the Ch. had been planted 
in Eng by Rome, would it not have had a Roman name?— What 
is the derivation of the word ^'Church" ?— Give the important facts 
mentioned in ^ 2, p. 26. 

CHAPTEE IX. 

Which Ch. was neighbor to the Br. Ch.?— What separated 
them ? - Make, in your own language, the argument made in 1st ?[ 
this Chap. — Give corroborative facts.— Repeat ''minor facts'' of f 
2, p. 28.- But, what are the most striking proofs ®f the Eastern 
(and not Roman) origin of the British Church's ways and usages? 
—What, of Germain ?— Lupus ? 

CHAPTER X. 

What of the Br. Ch. during the 3d cent.?-=W^here did many flee? 
=Did she preserve the faith ? — What of the persecutions?— Con- 
stantine Chlorus?— What did he do when he became Emperor ?-= 
What does a writer say? (tf 2, p. 31)—Another? (5f 3)— Repeat 
last ^ Chap. 10. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Tell of the council at Aries.— Whom did the Br. Ch. send ?— 
How many usually went?— What are some of the acts of this coun= 
cil?— How did it speak of the Roman Bishop ?~ [Explain the can= 
onical status of the "Pope" to be only that of any other Bishop.] — 
Tell of the council of Ivlice. '^A. D. 325) — What are some of its 
acts?— What of the Creed ?— What says the sixth canon?— What 
was, at that time, the part of the Ch. over which the B. of Rome 
was head?— Were Br. Bishops at the council of Nice? (Churton, 
Bates, Hilary and Athanasius so affirm.) —Tell of Sardica.— -Ar- 
minium.— =Tell of Pelagius.— Bangor. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Who had protected the Britoni ?— Did they cease to do so ?— 

What did %h^ BaxoES do ?— Ho^ luaay claas were there of tliem ? 



149 

—Names.— From allies, what did they become ?— Did they ever 
conquer Wales?— What fled to Wales? (Br. Ch. and Br. tongne.) 
— A.t what place? (Bangor.) — What happened at Bannesdown? — 
What else?— Is it now almost wholly in Wales, and parts near, 
that we are to look for the Br. Ch.?-Whofled to WaleR?-Did 
their congregations, also?-=-Give facts contained in last ^ but one 
of this Chapter. 

CHAPTER XI ir. 

Who was sent to Eng. in 596?--By whom?— What state of affairs 
did he tind? — Who was Bertha? — Where had Aug. stopped ?—= 
Whom d'd he bring from France?— What language did th^y 
speak besides their own -^ — How was Aug. received by the Br. 
King ? - Where was he assigned ''-To whom wav«i Aug. sent ?i,To the 
heathfcn Saxons, not to the Christian Britons.) — Tn time, what effect 
did the preaching and godly examp'e of Aug. and his monks have? 
=— What did Aug. do in 597? — Whnt meeting; was held some yearg 
iifter ? Who brought it about ? — Why did the first meeting come 
to nothing? -Who attended the second?— What arrogant demnnds 
did Aug. make of the British Bishops and other clergy?— T'id he 
insist that they should acknowledge him as their Archbishop, and 
the "Pope" as their Head ? — Bepeat, word for word, what they 
replied? — Did Aug. find fault with the Br. Ch. for its creed, or any 
thing of that sort ? — Only for what ?— [Enlarge upon the independ- 
ence, canonical and actual, of the Br. Ch.] 

CHAPTER XIV. 

What were some of the effects of Augustine's comins:? — How 
long did the influence of the K. clergy predominate ?— Whose in- 
fluence then began to gain the ascendency ? — Did the Br. clergy 
now undertake the conversion of their old enemies, the Sasons?— 
Were not the motives and intentions of Bishnp Gregory of Rome, 
g' od? — But wherein did he err, and violate the canons?- Give the 
comparison drawn about the Archbishop of C. and the Bishop of 
N. Y. -When did Aug. die?— Who was his successor? 

Let the 15th lesson be a review of the whole of Series L 



160 
QUESTIONS ON SERIES II. 

CHAPTER I, 

What did Lawrence try to do ?— Did he succeed ?— What showg 
that the Br. Churches had never been controlled by the R. Bishop? 
—What shows that, even in the judgment of Lawrence, they were 
true and sound t— Though the Br. refused to submit, what did she 
have to do several hundred years after?— -But did she not at the 
Reformation (1534, &c.) reassert her native rights ? — Had she not 
a rij?ht to do this?— On what sound principle ?(J'-^af which is^ in 
itself y wrong ^ no 'possible Itngih of time can make right,) — Who was 
Lord of Britain in 625?— Tell of his marriage, &c.~Which were 
the three kingdoms converted by Aug. and his immediate success- 
ors ? Which two of these fell again into paganism ?— Who r€-con- 
verted them ? — What of King Kingil? — What does this prove? — - 
Vhat says Lingard (the R. C. writer) of the Scot Church? — ^^hy 
mentioned ?— [Explain "Scot.'^] —Who was Columba ? — ^ hat did 
he found? — One hundred years afterwards how was the Ch. indebt- 
ed to Columba ?— v\ ho was Oswald ?— ^i here had he learned of the 
Christian religion ?— =V\hat Bishop and Clergy did he get sent?— 
Tell of this Aidan ? 

CHAPTEK II. 

Who was Theodore ?— When did he come ?— What increase did 
he make in the number of Bishops?— Out of York, what did he 
make ? — Did he encourage learning ?-=What of Parish Churches ? 
—^ hat did he do on his "visitations" ?--=What does the Br. Ch. 
owe to this great and good Bishop ?~Died ?— How long Bishop ? 

CHAPTEB III. 

Who succeeded Theodore ?— Mention some of the Church laws 
of his time.— ^ hat is said in % 3?— What, in 1[ 4, of the attendance 
of the laity upon synods?— =^hal old custom is mentioned in the 
next f ?-^hat of monasteries?— Was the British Church independ- 
ent, at that time, of all sister Churches ?— Repeat the last sentence 
of this Chapter. 

CHAPTER IY» 

How did Saxon influence reach the See «f Canterbury ?— What 
two Bishops claimed the Diocese of York ?=-How did the new 
Archbi«hop settle th« dispute?— What did Wilfrid threaten ?— How 
wa8 thh reoeivfd by thoe^ standing by ?— Why ?— What iHtar did 



151 

Wilfrid briug back ? — Was it regarded ? — What was done witli 
Bishop ^^ ilfrid ? — Give substance of last *', Chap. 4. 

CHAPTER Y. 

What light does the life of 'Vilfrid throw upon the Church mat- 
lers 01 the time? — •' hat did Theodore ^vriie ^MllridV — > hat did 
V'. reply? — ^ hat does this proA'e ? — -hat now became ol \\ '• — 
At the synod, what did he say ? — Proves what? — Did W, go again 
to Kome ? —Wh: t did the K. Bishop send word back? — Was he 
listened to ? — What, finally, happened to Bishop Wihrid ? (last ' . ) 
Kepeat last sentence, this Chapter. 

CHAPTER VI. 

What was the Eoman Bishop now trying to do ? — Tell of Boni- 
face. — Give two canons of council of Cloveshoe ? — Against whom 
were these aimed ?"-Give account oi '"irtLei-pence.'' — i^ow did this 
evil hasten the Keformation? 

CHAPTER YII, 

- What from now on is the proj)er name of the Church that was in 
England ? — Tell how it came to get this. — Who was Aified the 
great? [King of England, &c. ; and communicant of the (Episco- 
pal) Church.] — What did he translate ?— How did he raise up a 
tine body of clergy ? — Give substance last*". — Died? 

CHAPTER VIII. 

NMio was Dnnstan ?— W^hat vrere some of the evils of the monks? 
— Eepeat the good Church-lavrs of his time ; as given in ^ 3, p. 69, 
—Tell of the event mentioned in next *^.— What did brave old 
Danstan say ? — Eepe.it last sentence of this Chapter. 

CHAPTER IX. 

W^hen did the Normans come ? — W^ho ti^ed to suspend the Arch- 
bishop ? — Had he any such right ? — Eepeat "He had no jurisdic- 
tion," &c. ; (2nd ^, Chap, ix) and give your own reasons for it.— Who 
g ined the battle of Hastings ? — Who had blessed the banners of 
William, Conqueror; and aided him? — What did the Bishop of 
E. expect in return ?™W"hat then took place in the Eng. Church ? 
---Foreigners ? — Church-service ?— Sermons in native tongue ? — 
I octrines ? — What reformed all this ? — What did the Eng. Church 
then become ? — When- was this ? — In whose reign ?— Did we, of the 
American Church, spring from the Eeformed Eng. Church ? 



152 

CHAPTER X. 

How was the Churcli thus far in regard to doctrine'^ — What do 
the provisions of the synod of Cloveshoe prove? — What of the 
penitential of Theodore ?— To whom confession made? — What was 
the good done by early monasteries? — Was purgatory a doctrine of 
ihe Church up to this time ? — Images ? — Masses for the dead ? — 
Repeat what Collier says. — Penance.— ^I'e Maria, 

CHAPTER XI. 

Did the Church hold the Rom. Cath. doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion?(Ans. ; she did ?zo^.)— Give substance of 1st TT.— What did 
Elfric write ?— What do these show ? — Were they in public use? — 
What would this go to show ? — Did the Ch. come in later days to 
fall into evil doctrine? — Did she ever cease to be a Church? (iVo.) 
— Ts not a sick man a man still, though sick?— Then the Church 
after the Reformation was not a nevj Church ? — AVhat thenf— Give 
the iliustration.s about Naaman. — What is said of disc?*p/me.^— What 
did the Council of Cloveshoe require Bishops to do?— Priests to 
do?— The laity?— What of Calcuith? [Explain about the "undis- 
puted'^ Councils.]— Give, carefully, substance of concluding %. 

CHAPTER XII. 

What greater ^'honor^^ had Rome ?— Why ? — Give canon of A.D. 
381.— Clause from that of 45L— Give the first steps of the Roman 
Bishop's power. — Did the Emperors help to increase it ?~ Division 
oflllyria?— Aries?— Leo, the Great? — Give substance of conclud- 
ing %, — Repeat foot note word for word ? 

. CHAPTER XIII. 

Were any rights acquired over the English Church by the send- 
ing of Aug! by the R. Bishop ? (A^o?ie.)— Why ?— Give the reason- 
iDg of 1st ^. -Also, of ^iT 2 and 3.— Also, of ^^ 4.- Also, of % 1, p. 
83. -What did 8th can.«Ephesus forbid?— How many divisions in 
early Christian Church ?— Called ?— Give the illustration of New 
York, Eimira, &c. — Had Gregory a right to send Aug. to the Sax- 
ons ?— Where, then, did he do wrong? (5^^ 1 and 2, p. 84.)— Were 
not all the proceedings during the early rule of Ronne over Eng- 
land illegal and wrong?— Could any lapse of time make right in 
the end, what was wrong, in its beginning ?— How can the Roman 
Church answer this? {She can not.) -Were, then, the clergy at the 
Reformation not right in casting oil a power which no foreign 
Church ought ever io have had over the Church in England "^ 



153 

(Yes; by every consideration of justice and equity.) — Wiiat iiave 
we now traced down? — Give the three names by which the Church 
has been known, during her 1800 years' existence in E. — But has 
she ever lost her identity through these alterations in her name? 
(Kever.) — When tens of thousands of Germans and other foreign- 
ers come to America, does this change the nationality or identity 
of our country ? — Give the last two sentences of this series. 



QUESTIONS ON SERIES III. 

CHAPTER I. 

AVho conquered Eng. in 1066 ?— What of the N. Dukes?— What 
of William ?— Hastings?— How did Wm. treat the Church ?— How 
did the Saxons suffer? — Give substance of *[ 2, p. 90.— Give that 
ot ^ 1, p, 91.— That of ^, 2.— That of ^ 3.- What of the new service- 
book ? -What did Osmond do ?— Where was the new Book used ? 
— What was done to it the Eeformation ? 

CHAPTER II. 

Who reigned in 1087 ?— Give substance of •! 2, Chap, ii.— Also, 
of*y 3.— How did the Roman Bishop come to have virtually the 
app't of the English Bishops? [^ 2, p. 93.] — What is said in last f 
p. 93?-What injury did V\"m. of Corboil do the Ch. ?— YHiat was 
one cause of the growth of Papal power in Eng. ?— But was its 
exercise lawful ?— Why ?— Give the comparison in last ^, 

CHAPTER III. 

How did the Church fare under Stephen ?— Under Henry II., 
what events took place ?— What of Becket ?— Give substance of 
last *" Chap. iii. 

CHAPTER IV. 

What quarrel had John with the Eoman Bishop ?— Give par- 
ticulars ?— What of the "interdict" ?— What savs Southev?— Ee- 
peat the form of Papal Excom.— How did J. retaliate ?~What did 
the R. Bishop do ? - To whom did he "give" John's crown ?— Give 
particulars of *^ 2, p. 101.— Of «' 1, p. 102.— Of "^ 3.— Of last *' of 
Chap. ly. 



154 

CHAPTER V. 

What of Magna Charta ? — Who were largely instrumental in 
obtaining this ?— In what sense was it a protestant act? — What of 
the "religious orders"? - What of dispensations? - Of indulgences?— 
The crusaders? — What of the Council of Toulouse ?— What did a 
Bible use to cost? — What of prayers to saints? — What of other 
evil ways ? — Give substance of % 2/p. 106. 

CHAPTER VI. 

What of Dunstan ?-- Of Pottock ?— Foliat ?— Greathead ?~Brad- 
wardine ?— Fitzralph ?— WicklifFe ?— Black friars ?— v^ hat of W. 
and the 1000 marks ? — What, also, did he oppose ? — ^A hen, then, 
may the Ref. of the Ch. be said to have begun ? 

CHAPTER VII. 

Give substance of 1[ 1. — What were passed in time of Ed. I. ? — 
Why necessary? — What were some of these? [Ij 2, p. 112.] — Those 
in time of Ed. II. ?— Those in that of Ed. III. ?— Hen. IV.?— Hen. 
v.? — What was condition of things at coming of Hen. VIII. ? — 
Give, word for word, ^ 6, p. 110. — Also, of last 1[, this Chap. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Give the ''financial cause'^ of the Eef.?— What, too, of the Scrip? 
— ^hat, of Avignon ? — Schisms in the E. Ch. ?— How long did 
this last ; and how did it end? — Give the argument of ^ 1, p. 117. 
— Give substance of % 2, p. 117. — W^hom had Hen. YIII. married ? 
— Whose widow w^as she ? — How long had she been his wife ? — 
What 'Tope" had consented to it? — Give substance of last ^ of 
Chi. p. VIII. 

CHAPTER IX. 

What were the real motives of Hen.? — What says Froude? — ■ 
What of Wolsey ? — In what sense only was Hen. ^'Head" of the 
Church? — v\ hat part had Parliament taken in the work of Re- 
form?— -What did not remain in 1543? — v\ as the Ref. regularly con- 
ducted ?— Give substance of ^4, p. 122.— Also, of ^ 5.— What of 
the Six Articles ? — What of the '^King's Primer''?— Give substance 
last II this Chapter. 

CHAPTER X, 

When did Hen. die ?-— Who succeeded him ?— Who became Pro- 
tecior ? — Give some account of Ed. YL— What of the Church dur- 



155 

ing his reign ? — What of Trent ? — What did Cranmer now do ? — 
What ^'form" appeared in 1548 ?— Give substance *[ 2, p. 125. — 
Did the Eng. Church separate ? — Which Church did ^ 

CHAPTER XI. 

What of Lady Jane Grev ? — Who became Queen instead ? — 
What did she promise? — What did she dof — Who were burned?— 
How many Bishops driven out? — How many other clergy?— Give 
substance ^ 2, p. 128.— Also. ^ 1, p. 129.— How Jong did she reign? 
— How did she leave the Kingdom ?— Who succeeded her? 

CHAPTER XII. 

What of Kogers ?— Of Hooper ?— Taylor?— Eidley?— Latimer?— 
Cranmer ?— Give some account of his character. — What may be 
said of all these men?— Give, carefully, substance of last ^ thie 
Chapter. 

CHAPTER XITI. 

Who came to the throne in 1558? — What were revoked ? — What 
of the Bishops ? — State the difference between the policy of Eliza- 
beth and that of Mary towards her enemies ? — What of Parker ? — 
— How many Bishops are needed to consecrate a Bishop ? — How 
many required if they can be had ? — How many consecrated P.? — 
Who were they ?— Give foot note. — What steps were now taken ? — 
^^ hat was the relation ef the Koman party towards the Church for 
ten or eleven years ?—Wh^t happened in ' 1569? -What, then, did 
the adherents of the R, Bishop do? — Give reasons why there was 
no need of this. 

CHAPTER XIT. 

What is said of Henry ?— What of Edward ?— What of Mary ?— 
Of Elizabeth?— ^^ hat of her early training?— What of Cecil?— 
What statutes were now passed? — From where did Elizabeth re- 
cruit the corps of Bishops ?— Give substance last 5| this Chapter. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Was the Eng. Church the same Church after the Reformation as 
before? [YES.]«-What is meant by "essentially" the same ?— Was 
she the same kind of Church ?— What is the' difference between 
identity and condition^ [To teaeheri : Illustrate this in familiar way.] 
—Give the strgument concerning Ceremonies.—Give that concern- 



lot] 

ing Discipline.— Give that concerning The Creed. — Eepeat last T 
this Chapter. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Of how long a period does this Chapter treat ?— What of the ex- 
iles on the Continent?— When did the Puritans leave the Church ? 
— Give foot-note, carefully. — What meeting took place in 1603? — 
What was one good result of it ? — What troubles assailed the 
Church in 1640?— What of the Church under Cromwell ?— What 
of the Church in 1660?— What in 1685 ?— What under William and 
Mary ? — Give the second footnote, carefully. 

|^^(Let there now be another lesson in the nature of a general 
review.) 



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